A Little Holiday Spirit

Since we are at the end of July, I thought it would be appropriate to start looking at the upcoming holidays.  I have been so busy with other things that I have taken a lot of time to even think about the holidays.  Today my focus will be on Halloween.

Now when I start working on this holiday, I have an incredible urge to get out my owl builder punch and play.  I love the little owl characters I can create with this one.  Of course that is exactly what I did.  Today I will share the characters with you and later in the week you will see the card or cards I made using them.  Let's get started.

 

This is the entire spook gang all ready to go onto cards.  Well almost ready.  I added some glitter to a few of them and it has to dry before I manipulate them to put them onto a card.  How about we take a closer look at these cuties!!

 

My hubby loves the old movie of Frankenstein so I had to make one just for him.  Here we see him with the little devil.  Are they not cute?!!!!!

 

Again, remembering my hubby's love for all the old monster movies, I wanted to make a Dracula and a mummy.  We do watch those movies every year.  I personally am not a person who likes any horror movies but these I can handle.  

 

Have you ever seen the movie Hocus Pocus?  My girls and I use to watch that movie every year at Halloween.  In fact, I would venture to say that they would still watch this with me if I gave them the opportunity (and I will!!).  It is a story about 3 witches and there is a black cat in it too.  My favorite part has to be when one of the witches is riding a vacuum cleaner instead of a broom!  Too funny!  I would have to say that my witch and cat are pretty adorable to look at should look great on a card.  

 

Halloween would not be complete with bats and ghosts.  Again these are so easy to make using the owl builder punch.  I made these cute because while we enjoy Halloween we only like to have cute, fun things to decorate with.  There is no need to be so scary and I do not like all the blood, gore and fear that others like to put with this holiday.  Okay I will get off my soap box now.  

You will need to come back by to visit this week to see the cards I put these on.  Once the glitter glue dries, I will get to work.  Thanks for stopping by today to visit.  See you all tomorrow!!!!!

I'm Back!!!!!

Hi everyone.  I have truly missed my daily talks with you.   I am so happy to be back!!

We went on vacation to California to visit my in laws.  It was absolutely wonderful.  We told them we did not want to run around doing things all the time.  We really just wanted to spend time with them and visit.  That's exactly what we did.  We have lots of family here in Phoenix so when they come see us, we share the time with everyone and it just never seems like we spend enough time with them.  By going to their home, we were able to have that one on one time that we wanted and that my husband needed.  He loves his dad a lot and needs that time with him.  We enjoyed out time so much that we extended our vacation just a bit to have more time to visit.  Luckily my hubby had the time off and could do that. 

We did go to Seal Beach one day and it was perfect.  While we did not swim, we walked the long pier and watched the waves, surfers, sea gulls, and pelicans.  We shopped in the little shops and found some really cool seashell items to bring home.  The sky was overcast, there was a breeze and the temperature was in the 70's.  It was heaven.

Once home, here is what was waiting for me:

 

Recognize this?  Yep it's the wedding cards for my daughter's friend.  Actually the top photo was taken after a day or two of my being back.  The Night of Navy card stock and the Old Olive card stock I needed for these arrived while I was gone.  So did my embossing powder.  I had all the heat embossing and card stock cutting to do once I was back.  Now I know this may not seem like a lot but when you are doing 100 cards, it takes a lot of time.  I am happy to say I completed the cards yesterday and am not able to get back to my craft room and make new things for all of you!!  

I must warn you though that my husband's charity banquet is coming up in 2 months and I am creating the invitations for it also.  I am hoping to be able to work on those as well as work on things to share with you at the same time.  However, it I run into trouble and need to devote more time to finishing those cards, I will let you know.  

I am so happy you came back to visit today.  Thanks for all your understanding and support.  Come back tomorrow to see what I make to share with you.  See you all then!!!

It's Relaxation Time!!!!!!

Hi everyone!  I have to be honest I am looking forward to a few days away in California.  While I did spend a bit of time on Saturday preparing the card for yesterday and today, I lost my mojo.  I actually got some news that was both happy and unnerving at the same time.  It brought up memories of someone I loved very much who passed away a few years ago.  It seems so odd to say years.  To me, it might as well have been yesterday.  The emotions are still raw.  Funny how you go along and convince yourself that everything is fine and then something happens to remind you that if you are honest with yourself, everything is not fine.  Anyway, I am going to take the rest of the week off and go on our vacation.  I will not be back in my craft room until Monday or Tuesday so look for a new post on Wednesday.  Any craft time I have between now and then will be spent working on the wedding cards.

Today I want to share a card that I made on Saturday.  Now I posted a similar one a while back that was made by someone else.  I came across it on Pinterest and wanted to share her.  I also said I wanted to give her a try and then promptly forgot it.  I was reminded of her a couple of days ago and really wanted to give her a try.  She fits right into the whole relaxing theme I hope to have the rest of the week.  Without further ado, let's get started.

 

The one on Pinterest had room for a saying on the front.  I think I could have used a greeting if I had used smaller circles.  However, I like how she takes up the front of my card.  The base card for this one is Wild Wasabi cut at 4 1/4" 11", scored at 5 1/2".  The only layer for this one is a piece of Whisper White measuring 4" x 5 1/4".  I ran this piece through my big shot using the Modern Mosaic impression folder.  I attached it to the base card using runner adhesive after the lady was attached to it.

 

Here is a close up of the top half of her face.  Love the cucumbers don't you?

 

Here is a closer look at the bottom half of her face.  I used the following colors of card stock:

Strawberry Slush - towel and robe

Chocolate Chip - hair

Melon Mambo - lips

Garden Green - outside rim of cucumber

Wild Wasabi - inside of cucumber

Pear Pizzazz - seeds of cucumber

Blushing Bride - face, ears and neck

Here is a list of the big shot dies and punches used for each part of her:

3 1/2" circle die for the big shot for her face - trimmed on one side to angle for chin

scallop oval from the framelits oval collection for the towel and robe - these were trimmed down to fit the card after being placed and were embossed using the fancy fan folder

1 1/4" circle for the outer rim of the cucumber

1" circle for the inside of the cucumber and for the ears

retired triple layer flower punch for the seeds - you could cut these from 1/4" circles if needed

retired small oval for the upper lip - I snipped the center out to form the lip and flattened one side

wide oval for the bottom lip cut across

retired 1 3/8" square punch for the neck

I cut the hair free handed.  I also added pearls to her ears for earrings.  They just seemed to fit her.  

I had a lot of fun making her.  I wish I was inspired to make more before I leave on vacation but I just don't seem to have it in me.  I must get packing to be ready.  Once my hubby is ready to get into the car and go, it is time to go.  I best be prepared.  I will return next week by Wednesday (before if I can) and I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week and a fantastic weekend. See you later!!!

Get Well Card Revisited

I am truly losing my mind I guess.  I shared the card I am going to talk about today back in 2012 but apparently did not explain all the instructions for it.  I described the background and the base card but did not put the instructions for the punch art character on it.  Then at the beginning of July, I posted the card again to represent the illness that was running through my family.  Thanks to one of my followers, it was brought to my attention that I failed to provide instructions on how to make him.  So today, I am going to provide them.  Now I am not going to go through the base card and the background or greeting.  I am just doing the punch art instructions.  Let me show you the card first, then we will focus on the punch art.

 

Here is the sad little sick puppy once again.  He is resting on his bed, holding onto his tissue.  This one just tugs at my heart.  It is so sweet!!  Anyway, let's just focus on the doggy.

 

Here is a closer look at him.  Below you will find the instructions for him.

1 3/8" Circle for head

Wide Oval for body

3/4" Circle for the paws (trim away 1/4 of the bottom and round out edges)

Modern Label for legs and feet (cut one label in half and round one edge of each piece for the haunches, punch out 2 labels and cut 1/3 off of each label and round out edges for each foot)

small heart from the retired Heart to Heart for the pads of his feet

3/4" Circle for the tail (cut off 1/3 of the circle at a slight curve)

1" Circle for muzzle; attach this with a dimensional

1/2" Circle cut in half for the eyelids, 1 punched out of black and trimmed into an oval for the nose

Circle from the punch pack for the eyeballs, I also punched this in black for eyes, I just trimmed them down to the size and shape I wanted

Ears were made by punching half of the 3/4" circle (do this along the edge), then line up the 1" circle over the top of punched hole to create ear

Punch pack circle for the thermometer (cut a thin white strip for the rest of the thermometer)

1 1/4" square punch in white for the tissue (mist with water and crumple up)

Well there you have all the punches needed to make your own little doggy.  Most pieces were adhered together using a 2 way glue pen.  The muzzle was the only exception.  The completed dog was adhered to the card using dimensionals.  I hope this helps those of you who want to give him a try.  Thanks to Kim Score for teaching me how to make him originally.

Stop by tomorrow to see what I have for you next.  Thanks for stopping by today!!!

I'm Sorry

I am truly sorry I have been missing in action so much.  I had every intention of getting into my craft room on Tuesday and playing with all my stuff but it just did not happen.  By the time my hubby and I finished the memorial service to honor the 19 firefighters who were killed in the Yarnell wildfire, I was an emotional wreck.  I just could not even function.  I think I walked around in a daze and cried for the rest of the day.  Thank goodness my youngest daughter and her boyfriend came over to swim and play video games.  That was the only reason I did not go to sleep crying.

We are also preparing to go visit my in-laws in California next week.  It has been a while since we have seen them and I am looking forward to spending a few days just visiting and going to the beach.  I think my husband needs the break and so do I.  The time together will be wonderful.  I spent a good part of Wednesday and Thursday running errands for the trip.  When I was home, I was working on wedding cards for my daughter's friend.  So it's not that I haven't been crafting, I just haven't been getting things done to share with you each day.  I should have 3 days coming up before the trip to work on cards for next week though so please don't give up on stopping by to see me.  For now, let me share a few cards I saw that were too cute to keep to myself:



A little patriotic inspiration.  I love the ease of this card.



This is a new dahlia stamp set from Stampin' Up!.  It is one I definitely hope to get.




This is such a simple card to make but I love the finished look!!!  Can't wait to make one of my own.

Thanks for your patience and understanding this week.  Like I said, I do plan on working on some cards to share with all of you next week while I am away.  Have a safe and wonderful weekend and I will return on Monday!!!!!!!  Thanks for stopping by.

Complicated Is Not Necessarily Better

Today I thought I would return to a simple card design.  Sometimes it is just nice to do something that looks pretty when finished but is not so hard to complete.  I don't know about you but I don't always have a lot of time to sit down to work on a card so I turn to some of the simple ones so that I can complete my task easily.  I hope you can find some inspiration from this one.

 

Isn't it pretty?!!!!  Now I know I poppies are red but I decided to make them blue.  It's a nice and easy card to make that requires few supplies.  So let me share with you what I used to make this one.

I started with a base card of Gumball Green cut at 5 1/2" x 8 1/2", scored at 4 1/4".  I added a layer of 4 1/8" x 5 3/8" Midnight Muse and attached it to the base using runner adhesive.  For the final top layer, I took a piece of Whisper White and cut it at 4" x 5 1/4".  Using the Pleasant Poppies stamp, I stamped the image onto the white using Midnight Muse ink.  I then pulled out my favorite colored pencils and colored in the stems and flowers.  Once they were colored, I attached the white piece to the base card with the runner adhesive.

 

I wanted to add a little something more to my card and chose to add butterflies.  I used the Beautiful Wings embosslit and my big shot.  I cut butterflies out using all of the 2012-2014 in colors:  Gumball Green, Midnight Muse, Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple, and Summer Starfruit.  I used only the ones with the polka dots on them.  They are attached to the card using glue dots.  I then add rhinestones to form their bodies and added one to each wing also.  To the flowers whose centers showed, I added a yellow rhinestone.

I did not put a greeting on this one yet.  I will when I decide who is receiving it and for what occasion.  I do hope the ease of making this card came through to you.  I know there are lots of samples that are intricate and take lots of time.  Trust me I do some of those too.  They are beautiful but the more simple ones are beautiful too.  

I hope you all have a terrific Tuesday.  I plan on spending some much needed time with my husband.  He has been working a lot lately and I have been missing him.  I will be back with a new share for you though so be sure to stop by to see me tomorrow.  Thanks for visiting today!!!!

Another Wedding Invitation

Hi everyone.  Well we have made it through a very sad week and I am hoping we are coming out of the darkness finally.  My heart is still broken for all the families and I send lots of prayers out to all of them. 

I thought I would start this week by sharing with you an invitation to a wedding.  I think I might have mentioned I have been working on a sample wedding invitation for one of my daughter's friends.  I think I will just jump in and start.

 

I went with the square card for this one.  I started with a piece of Night of Navy card stock cut at 5 1/4" x 10 1/2", scored at 5 1/4".  I added a layer of Old Olive to this cut to be 5" x 5".   The final layer on the front is a 4 3/4" square of Whisper White.  I stamped this image from the retired stamp set called Wedding Sweet onto the white using VersaMark ink and Night of Navy ink.  First ink the stamp with the VersaMark and then the navy.  Once the image is stamped, I added clear embossing powder to it and heat embossed it.  I took a 4 3/4" strip of navy and used my eyelet lace punch to punch both sides of it.  I attached it and all the layers together using runner adhesive.  I added a few pearls to the eyelet lace for added effect.  For the final touch, I typed the saying on my computer and printed it out onto white card stock.  I punched this out using the full heart punch, sponged the edges with olive ink and layered it onto a navy scallop heart made using my big shot and an embosslit.   It was adhered with runner adhesive to the scallop heart.  The finished heart was attached to the card using dimensionals.

 

This would be the left hand side of the inside of the card.  I created a pocket on this side with a strip of navy card stock.  I used sticky strip to attach this so it was really secure.  I put a layer of olive and then white card stock onto this to keep the theme.  I added the stamp from Wedding Sweet (retired) to this using olive ink.   The pocket will hold the RSVP card and an envelope for it to be returned,  It will also contain the reception information and a map.  The words on the front let recipients know when to return the RSVP card by to the couple.  I always have my brides include the return envelope and encourage them to address them and add the stamp.  You have a better chance of people actually returning these if you make it easy for them.

 

The right hand side contains the wedding info itself.  Again I added a layer of olive to the base using runner adhesive.  I then took a piece of white and stamped the image of the tree from the set Thoughts and Prayers using olive ink.  The heart is from the retired set called Tiny Tags.  They are stamped using navy and olive ink.  The information for the wedding is printed out onto vellum.  The vellum is cut to match this white layer.  I attached it to the white using brads.  It softened the look of the stamps underneath.  The white is attached to the olive using the same runner adhesive.  

Well that's it for today.  My plan is to be here every day this week.  Thanks for all your understanding and thanks for stopping by today to visit.  I will see you all tomorrow.

Lots of Sorrow

 

It has certainly been a somber week here in Arizona.  We have watched as a wildfire has destroyed a community and taken the lives of 19 brave wildland fire fighters.  I think it is easy to forget the dangerous job that these men do.  Like all fire fighters, they are willing to enter places most of us would not venture and are willing to lay down their lives for others.  It saddens me that it takes such a tragedy to remind us how important these brave souls are and that we should say thank you to them for the sacrifice they are willing to make.  

As a fire fighter's wife, my heart breaks for the families of these 19 men.  While they may not have been members of my husbands department, all fire departments treat each other as one family.  They are truly a close knit group and the loss of any is devastating to all of them.  This has been overwhelming.  There are no words to describe the grief and sorrow.  This event hit close to home for us as one of the 19 was a good friend of our oldest daughter.  His death has been extremely hard on her.  We are there for her as well as all members of our fire family.  

I do hope you understand that the priorities for this week have shifted and while I am trying to get some crafting done, my family must come first.  One good thing is I was asked to make wedding invitations for my oldest daughter's friend.  It has given me something to focus on other than the grief.  

I will keep you posted on how we are doing and will hopefully be posting some new cards before long.  I have to say I have walked through some dark times in my life filled with grief, sorrow and pain but this is one of the worst.  I ask that you keep Arizona and these families in your prayers.  Thanks for all your support. 

Look Familiar?

 

Does this card seem familiar to you?  I am sure if you have been following my blog for awhile you recognize this one.  It is one of the get well cards I have made and let me tell you if fits my life the past week or so.  My youngest ended up at the doctor and is being tested for strep.  We are still waiting for the test results.  Her boyfriend had an infection that caused facial swelling but he seems to be doing better now.  A good friend of ours has a daughter fighting strep throat.  She has been running fevers as high as 106 degrees!  To top it all, my hubby is have his usual sinus problems and has been in bed all weekend.  

I bet it would not surprise you to know that I have not been crafting.  I am so hoping to be on the recovery side of all these illnesses this week so I can get back into my craft room.  I did want to share this one with you again since it is probably my favorite get well card I have made to date.  

I hope to be back with a new share for you in the next day or so.  Until then, please stay well and thanks for stopping by to visit.  See you later.