Mini-Wreath Ornaments!!

Hey Everyone!! Happy Friday!! I would do my usual Happy Dance but I'm still coming out of that food coma from yesterday!! Ah, you gotta love Thanksgiving!! But I'm glad it only comes once a year I don't think my waistline could handle it! My Thanksgiving was good and I hope you all had enjoyed your Thanksgiving as well. I definitely put all those decorations I made to good use and my table looked awesome!! Now that I think of it I forgot to take a pic to share with you all. Have to remember to do that next time. For today's post, I have some ornaments that I made. They're really cute. I got the inspiration for these from a pic my sis send me on Pinterest. The wreath pictured was a lot larger but I thought I could customize it to make ornaments. My hubby wants to go for a traditional handmade Christmas this year. So the pressure is on for me to make some ornaments to hang on our tree. Man, I only hope I can pull this off! Fingers crossed as I type this! Before I get too ahead of myself, here's the pic for you to check out:

 

Here they are!

I think they turned out pretty good!

I varied the colors and embellishments for each one to make them a little different.

Here's the rundown of what I did:

 

I took some silver binder rings my hubby got for me and wrapped them in embroidery floss. I used mini GlueDots to attach the floss to the ring. Hot glue probably would have been a better choice but I knew wrapping these would be a tedious process. In the future, I would choose to use yarn instead of embroidery floss to wrap these in. Floss is thinner than yarn and I found I had to wrap it a few times to cover the silver underneath. But since I was a little on the impatient side and wanted to see what I could come up with, floss was what I had to work with.

For the one on the top,  I used white, red and green. I used the red and green floss sparingly in a few spots and kept the majority of it white. The greenery was cut @ 2" with my Cricut and adhered it down. I also added a few berries I punched with my 1/8" hole punch and a banner ( also cut from my Cricut @ 2") with the sentiment "Peace" stamped in the center. A little touch of bling in the form of a glitter pen finishes it off. And wreath numero uno is complete!

 

For the one on the left, I used red and white embroidery floss to mimic the inspiration pic. It has the same greenery embellishment and banner as the top one. The only difference is the addition of embossed, punched snowflakes. I took a piece of white cardstock I had and inked the entire surface in VersaMark ink. I then used clear embossing powder over the top and heat embossed it. I used this sparkly paper to punch out my snowflakes and add it to the wreath. And that completes the look for wreath number two!

 

For the final wreath on the right, I used green and white embroidery floss. It has the same banner as the other two but only the snowflakes for an embellishment. Wreath number three done!!

 

I took the look from an inspiration pic and tailored it to make three distinct ornaments. I like how they turned out! To be honest, I'm not 100% sure I will use these on our tree per se. I only made three of each so far and I figure I would need a lot more. But I may find a home for them elsewhere. I was thinking I could use these on a smaller tree or attach them to gifts, the possibilities are endless. Well I think this is a good stopping point for this post, I hope you all enjoyed this project for today! Enjoy your T.G.I.F and Peace!! :)

"Happy Thanksgiving"!

Hey Everyone!!! I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!!!! May this day be filled with lots of love, laughter, friends, family and awesome food of course!!! Make today a day to be thankful for all those around you. I'm thankful for my health and my family!!! I'm also thankful for being a part of a community of talented crafters and being inspired by them daily!! Enjoy this day and make sure to eat, drink and be merry!! Peace!! :)

Stamping and Watercoloring...

Hey Everyone!! Happy Tuesday!! Hope you all are having an awesome day! It's been pretty rainy in Louisiana for the past four days and it doesn't look like it's gonna let up anytime soon. It gives me the perfect excuse to craft till my heart's content or till I need to get dinner ready. For today's project I wanted to try a technique I saw on various YouTube videos. Watercoloring stamped images. I love watching those vids that feature Copic coloring with stamped images. I don't own any Copic markers (hopefully that will change). So when I came across this vid on watercoloring your stamped images I figured I'd give it a shot.. I do own a set of Stampin' Up Watercolor Pencils and I used those for the cards I created. I really like how they turned out! Here's the pics for your perusal:

 

My favs out of this trio would have to be the dog and teddy bear images.

They are sooo cute!!

 

Here's the rundown of what I did:

 

 

The "Blessings" card is a standard A2 size card. The card base is white and I added a strip of pink cardstock cut at 2 1/2 x 5 1/2" and adhered it down. For the white layer, I cut the strip a 1/4" smaller than the pink cardstock. I stamped this floral image in Staz-On Jet black ink and used my watercolor pencils to color in the image. I colored the edges of the petals and with a wet brush dragged the color to the center to create a gradient effect. I added some blue around each flower to add another layer to the image. Once dry, I attached it to the pink cardstock with my ATG gun. For the sentiment "Blessings", I layered pink and white cardstock together, notched the ends and added a few pink rhinestones. The sentiment came from my new stamp set "Encouraging Thoughts" that I won in a challenge from CardzTV. Thank you Mary!! :)

 

For the inside of the card, I repeated the same pattern as the outside. Here's the pic of that:

 

 

I added some faux stitching with my white gel pen and a sentiment from the same stamp set: "When God closes a door, He opens a window! And my card is complete!

 

For the 3 x 3 cards, I colored them in much the same way as the flowers. Here are the close up pics for those:

 

 

This little doggy is too adorable!!

I just added some butterfly trails and layered it on top of a glittered background.

 

 

The "Smile" sentiment I stamped on the inside using Staz-On Jet Black Ink.

 

 

For the teddy bear card, I actually cut out the image after it was stamped and colored. I used pop dots to give it a 3D appearance and then adhered to the card base. I don't have a close up pic but here's a pic of the inside of the card:

 

 

All the sentiments came from the CardzTV stamp set.

 

And that completes my projects for today. I really enjoyed watercoloring my stamped images and I will probably be doing some more. I will say that if I had watercolor paper the colors would have been a little more vibrant. So I will definitely be purchasing some for future projects. I used regular cardstock for my images and Staz-On to ink them. If you're looking to try this just remember to not keep your cardstock too wet, blot off any extra water from your paper. Otherwise you run the risk of having the ink feather and your cardstock peeling. Trust me on this, I did this technique a few times before I came to that conclusion. But all in all, I enjoyed making these cards. I will be sending these this week to a friend of mine and her little girls. I hope they like them. I will end this post here and hope you all enjoy the rest of your evening!! Peace!!:)

 

 

 

 

 

"The Chew" My Bites Showcase!!!

Hey Everyone!! For all the fans of The Chew, I'm excited to announce that my submission for their My Bites showcase was accepted!! I submitted my Thanksgiving Centerpiece that was featured on this blog. Here's the link to check it out over at The Chew website:
http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/my-bites?x=us-en_showcase_25870_.

Make It Monday Challenge part 2

Hey Everyone! Happy T.G.I.F!!!! I'm so glad its here, I may do my "Friday Happy Dance" to celebrate. Hold on...
Okay I'm back. Almost broke my hip dancing around!! Couldn't resist the urge to dance! Now on to today's project which is a 12 x 12 layout featuring my two beautiful girls. I created this layout for another "Make It Monday" challenge over @ thememorynest.com. The challenge was to create a card or layout using triangles and showcasing what your thankful for. I initially wanted to do a card at first. But going through my photo box, I came across this pic of the girls from a couple of years back. That's when it hit me to do a layout. I LOVE how it turned out and I hope my girls love it too! Here's the pic for you to check out:

 

Isn't it Cute?!

 Here's the rundown of what I did:

 

To start, I used a tan cardstock for the background.  I tried using other colors for the background but didn't like the look of it. So I figured a nice neutral would give me a good base to add more color. The flags at the top of the page I cut from a template I made. They were inspired by a card making magazine I got over the weekend. I saw these flags on a give thanks card and fell in love with the look. I adapted it to fit this layout and used papers from the DCWV Glitter Mat stack to make the flags. I love the papers in this stack! There are a lot of pretty patterns and colors to choose from. I went with the brown and white patterned papers for this page. I used gold and orange embroidery floss at the ends and added bronze brads to finish it off. To attach them to the page, I used my ATG gun to run a strip of adhesive along the top, added embroidery floss tied at either end and pop dots to the brown flags to give it a 3D look. 

 

For the middle of the page, I layered brown and pink strips of cardstock and added it to a 3" strip of light brown at the top and bottom. I cut two pieces at 2" out of the same white patterned cardstock as the flag above. I traced a triangular border I found onto the pieces, cut it out and adhered it at either end of the strip. For the photo, I matted it onto light brown cardstock and layered it on top of brown and pink cardstock making sure to make it 1/4" bigger all the way around.

 

For the sentiments "Thankful" and "My Girls" I cut those out of my Cricut at 1 and 1 1/2". I just glued those directly on to the layout. And added some extra detail with my white gel pen. For the bottom of the page, I traced a stencil onto the patterned papers featured, cut those out and used adhesive and pop dots to attach to the page. A few pink rhinestones and flower gems here and there completes the layout.

 

I hope you all enjoyed this project for today. I had a lot of fun creating it. I will end this post here for now and wish you all a Happy T.G.I.F!! Peace!! :)

 Oh, I almost forgot here are a few more close up pics for you to enjoy:

 

 

 

"Thankful" Banner!

Hey Everyone! Happy "HUMP" Day!! A little over a week left till the official start of the holiday feasting begins. I can hardly wait! While I count down the days till Thanksgiving, I have a quick project to share with you all today. I made a "Thankful" banner to dress up the entryway from the dining room to the kitchen. I kept the design pretty simple and it didn't take long to make. Here's the pic for your perusal:

                                                  I love how this banner turned out!

To make this, I cut the letters on my Cricut at 4" out of white cardstock. I used a Pumpkin Pie inkpad from Stampin' Up to color the cardstock. I tried layering these letters on colored cardstock but I had trouble finding a shape I liked for the base. So after countless attempts to make it work I opted for just showcasing the sentiment on its own. I think it turned out pretty well. I used white so I could customize the orange color. It's a great trick to use when your running low on a particular color of cardstock. Once dry, I used my D'Vine Swirls embossing folder to give the letters added dimension. To highlight the swirls, I used a brown inkpad to sweep color over the letters to make it stand out. To finish it off, I inked around the edges using the same brown inkpad.


I wanted to add an embellishment to the banner to tie in the other fall colors I used. I decided to go with a layered rosette. Here's a close pic of that:

 

I used patterned brown and yellow cardstock to create this. For the yellow rosette, I cut a strip at 1 x 12" and used my threading water punch to add a decorative border. I added this leaf I stamped on a separate sheet to the middle. For the brown rosette, I cut a strip at 1 1/2 x 12" and used the same punch for the border. After forming the rosettes and hot gluing everything down , I layered the yellow rosette on top of the brown. This is a nice touch that adds another element to the banner.

 

To assemble, I just hot glued the letters and rosettes to a piece of braiding cord making sure to leave a 1/2" space in between. And that completes my banner! All that's left to do now is hang it.

 

I hope you all enjoyed this project. It's a different take on a traditional banner. I love how it turned out and the design couldn't be any simpler. I think I'll try to make a few for christmas and see how I can change it up a bit. I will end this post here for now and hope you all enjoy the rest of your evening! Peace!! :)

I

Easy Thanksgiving Day Wreath!

Hey Everyone! Hope you all had a good weekend!! My weekend was pretty good. I was able to relax, enjoy a movie or two and I found time for a quick project. How quick? Start to finish time was 15 minutes! I made a small wreath to put on my wall. It turned out pretty cute and the design is very simple. It's definitely one to try if you want to add some fall flair to your holiday decor. Here's the pics for you to check out:

 

This is the wreath form I created using two gold rings. They were purchased from Hobby Lobby months ago. I bought these to make a chandelier for my daughter's room but I never got around to it. I nested the smaller ring inside of the larger one and used fishing line to tie the two together. I just tied it in four places and that gave it a sturdy base to build my wreath on. I left about a 1/2" space all around. I used strips of burlap I had left over to wrap around the form. Here's the next pic:

 

 

As you can see, I now have a nice base to build upon. The nice part about using these gold rings is that their not raised in the back. It stays pretty flush up against a surface, whether it's a wall or a door. I did use Scotch Quick Dry adhesive to hold the burlap in place. But I'm sure a glue gun would have worked just as well. Now that I have my wreath base, it's time to decorate.

 

 

Not bad, right?! The flowers, ribbon and leaves used to decorate this wreath were leftovers from my centerpiece project. I just arranged the flowers and leaves and hot glued it all down. I tied a strip of ribbon into a bow and used hot glue to attach it to the bottom. And there you have it! My rustic fall wreath is complete!!

 

I love how this turned out! You can take this simple design and customize it to your decor. You can  cover it completely with flowers or add a sentiment, acorns, pinecones, etc. The possibilities are endless. I hope you all enjoyed this project today! It was alot of fun to create! Enjoy the rest of your day and Peace!! :)

 

 

"Journey" 12 x12 Layout!

Hey Everyone! Happy FRIDAY!!! I'm so glad the week is over. Now, I can look forward to relaxing, spending time with the kids and crafting, of course! There are a few more projects I want to complete before Thanksgiving. I need to make some table runners for my side tables and I think a banner would be nice to do also. I can't believe that Thanksgiving is almost here. Time has gone by so fast, unbelieveable! But for today's post, I'm taking a wee break from Thanksgiving projects. I created a layout for a "Make It Monday" Challenge over at thememorynest.com.  They provided a sketch that you can check out and the twist for this challenge is to use a selfie. Yikes! I am one of those photogenically challenged people. But I gave it a go. Here's the pic for your perusal:

 

I like it! This page was put together fairly quickly. It was pretty much done as of yesterday but I wanted to add the ribbon for a finishing touch.  Here's a run down of what I did:

 

I used the sketch provided on the site but added and changed a few details. This is a basic 12 x 12" layout and I kept the color scheme simple with shades of light blues, beige and orange. I used a ColorBok paper stack called "Rosebud" to create it. This is a new stack that hubby purchased for me last week. I love these papers! I layered the papers on the page and inked the edges with a brown inkpad. I added some faux stitching, antennaes and butterfly trails using my white gel pen. The butterflies were cut from a page in the stack.and were used as 3D elements to give the page added interest. I used foam squares on the wings to hold them up away from the page. I love how this effect makes the butterflies stand out on this layout.

 

The best part of this page for me is the ribbon. Why?! I dyed this ribbon myself using a blue reinker I have. I've seen this technique before but have never tried it for myself. Let's just say I'm hooked. I will be stocking up on white ribbon just so I can dye it. It was easy and fun. (Don't be surprised if you see more projects featuring hand dyed ribbon).  I added the ribbon to opposite corners of the page to finish it off. For the title , I used some chipboard letters I had left over from a previous project. Luckily, the colors went well with the rest of the layout. And ta-da, my page is complete.

 

I hope you all enjoyed this project. I will end this post here for now and hope you all have an awesome T.G.I.F!! Peace!! :)

Easy Thanksgiving Day Placemats!

Hey Everyone! Happy "HUMP" Day!! I hope you all are having a great day! For today's post, I have a simple and easy placemat that you can do for your holiday table. I found the idea for these on Pinterest. I initially wanted to purchase some placemats but let's be honest they can get pricey. So when I found this burlap idea, I figured hey I can do that. Luckily I had some burlap left over from a previous project.  The best part is you can customize it to fit your holiday decor. For mine, I kept the embellishments to a minimum. I wanted these placemats to complement not compete with the other pieces. Here's the pic for your perusal:

They were very easy to make. I made mine 12 x 17" and used an existing placemat as a template. I cut the burlap along the pencil marks with a pair of scissors. For added interest, I frayed the edges 1/2" along all four sides. The sentiments are adhesive backed chipboard letters from a scrapbook kit. I added some Scotch Quick Dry adhesive to ensure that these letters would stay on till Thanksgiving. With a five year old who's curious about everything, I needed these to withstand her little fingers. And voila, there you have it! Four easy and simple placemats that took literally minutes to make. The best part is that burlap now comes in an array of colors, so you can mix and match to suit your tastes.

I hope you all enjoyed this quick project. They were fun to make. I think they will make a nice addition to our table. Enjoy the rest of your day and I just realized I still haven't figured out what to make for dinner. YIKES!! Stay tuned for more projects to come and Peace!! :)

 

Oh, one final thing, here's the link to the site that inspired these:
momtastic.com.

Thanksgiving Centerpiece!

Hey Everyone! Hope you all had a good weekend filled with lots of crafts! My weekend was good and for this post today I have a centerpiece I made for our holiday table. Now, I thought I was on a roll after my previous projects went together smoothly. I made placecards, a decorative frame and napkin holders. I figure I'll make a centerpiece and have it completed in a day. Little did I know that crafter's block would set in. This centerpiece took me the whole weekend to create with numerous changes to the design. The floral arrangment was changed 6 times. The filler for the vase went from raffia to burlap to what's pictured here. The sides of the box had leaves and ribbon before I changed it to this flourish element. And the list of changes goes on. I was finally at my wit's end and figured this centerpiece was never gonna get done. My hubby sugggested we take a trip to a local flea market. Let me tell you that was exactly what I needed to get those creative juices flowing. And the final result is one that I'm proud of.  Here's the pic:

I love it!

I was finally able to pull this centerpiece together. For me, the fall colors are what draws your eye in. A few additions of white in the candles and flowers brightens it up just enough. Here's a quick run down of what I did:

The base for this centerpiece is a 12 x 12 wooden box my hubby made for me. He gave it a wash of white paint and I added a 3" die cut flourish to the sides.  He also cut out a few square pieces of wood that I used to add height and dimension to the vase and candles.  I cut a piece of burlap to fit the interior of the box. I used brown rice (but sand could have been used if I had some) to camouflage the wooden squares and give a base to the other elements. The candles, flowers, pinecones, and gourds used in this centerpiece were purchased from my local Dollar General.  I arranged the candles on either side of the vase. A gold striped ribbon from WalMart tied around the candle base completes the look. I took the gourds, pinecones and flowers and arranged them along the bottom. For the vase, I used a combo of black eyed peas and corn kernels as filler. This combo gave me enough give to arrange the flowers in and hold them upright. To start off, I added the scarecrow to the inside of the vase but kept it towards the back. I then arranged my flowers to fill in the front. I used a gold shimmer mist on the flowers to add some sparkle. And ta-da, there you have it. A centerpiece to give that holiday turkey some competition.

Here are a few more pics for you to see:

I hope you all enjoyed this project. It was a challenge to create but the results speak for themselves. I will end this post here and stay tuned for more Thanksgiving themed projects to come. Peace!! :)

Thanksgiving Decor!!

Hey Everyone! Happy T.G.I.F !!!!! Oh Yeah!! I'm so glad that it's finally here! Man, since yesterday's post, I have been cranking out the Thanksgiving projects. I was able to complete two for today's post. I made a decorative frame and napkin holders to go along with my awesome placecards. Before I jump off the sofa to do my "Happy Friday Dance", here are the pics for your perusal:

                                                      I LOVE how these turned out!


                                    Here's a close up of the decorative frame I made. I used a white frame measuring 4 x 10" that I had to create this. For the inside, I cut a piece of white cardstock and inked the edges with a brown inkpad. I used paper piecing to create the pattern you see. The brown and orange decorative elements were cut from my holiday Cricut cartridge at 3". I love this pattern it reminds me of damask fabric. I glued them down to the white base and stamped a flourish in a brown ink. Originally, I wanted to use an orange cardstock for the base and stencil the pattern on top. But after an hour of trying to stencil the pattern on the cardstock, I wasn't happy with the way it looked. I abandoned that idea and went for the one you see pictured. It was easier to glue the pattern down and use bolder colors to contrast against the white background. The flourish was stamped to fill in the empty spaces between the patterns. I love the way it turned out in the end. It's elegant without being too fussy. Now to decorate the outside of the frame, I used gold chipboard stickers for the "Give Thanks" sentiment and a few leaf stickers I found. And there you have it, my decorative frame is complete.


For my other project, here's a close up of that:









Before




            

                                                           

                                                                  After




I have to say I definitely LOVE the after. My husband picked these up for me today from a flea market. As you can see, these napkin holders are square, made from metal and had strawberries painted on them. Eww! No offense to the person who decorated these but it doesn't fit the holiday theme. I have to give credit to my wonderful hubby for giving me the idea on how to redo them. He suggested I paint the top and bottom with brown acrylic paint and add a strip to go around it. Luckily for me, he bought me some fabric used for crossstitching that I used to cover up the previous pattern. I cut a piece of the fabric at 1 1/16 x 8", inked the edges, and glued it down using Aleene's Tacky Glue. I used three leaves I cut from my Cricut and attached it to the front for added interest. I also stamped the same flourish on the sides. I just forgot to take a pic of it to show you. But you have to agree the after is alot prettier than the before.

Here's another pic for you to check out:

Aren't they cute?! These are going to look awesome on our table this year.

I hope you enjoyed these projects. I had fun making these.  Enjoy the rest of your T.G.I.F and Peace!! :)

Thanksgiving Day Placecards!

Hey Everyone! Happy Thursday to all! Only 1 day left till my favorite day of the week! We all know what day that is. But enough about that, I have a fun project for you all. I was busy browsing the web today looking for Thanksgiving themed craft projects. I came across a tutorial on placecards. I figured I could make a few and see how it turns out. Well, I was pleased with the final result. Once I figured out how I wanted these to look, it took no time at all to put together. But I'll let you be the judge. Here's the pic for your perusal:

                       Aren't they cute?! I think these would make a lovely addition to our holiday table.
                                       Here's another pic for you to check out;

I really love how these turned out. It may look complicated but it's pretty simple.

I took a 8 1/2 x 11" sheet of rust colored cardstock and cut it in half along the 8 1/2" side. By doiing this, I was able to get two pieces that measure 4 1/4 x 11". I then cut it in half again at the 11" side to get 4 pieces measuring 4 1/4 x 5 1/2". I then folded the pieces in half and used my bone folder to give it a crisp edge. After all the cutting and folding, I wound up with a placecard that measures 4 1/4 x 2 1/2". Now, you can customize the size of your placecard depending on how you cut your cardstock. You can make it bigger or smaller to suit your needs. For an added touch, I used my Threading Water punch to punch this decorative edge. And that gives me the starting base for my placecard.

For the white layer, I cut a piece of cardstock at 1 3/4 x 4". I used my 1" circle punch to cut the corners, inked the edges with a brown inkpad and adhered it to the base. For the embellishments, I turned to my favorite faux cardstock "Paint Chips". I call it "faux cardstock" cause you can find these in an array of colors to suit your crafting needs, plus, they're FREE! That's a value I can live with. :) I used them to punch out this 1" brown circle and for this layered curly label. It gives the placecard a pop of color. The curly label I cut from a holiday Cricut cartridge that I own and used the negative to cut a smaller label to layer on top of.  It looks cool but it doesn't really line up the way it should. But since we're not going away for Thanksgiving, I don't think the family will care much. That's something to keep in mind for the next time I make these.

The layered curly labels and 1" circles were glued directly to the base. I made small pumpkins to go on top of the circles. To make these, I cut 6, 1" ovals from my George and Basic Shapes cartridge out of orange cardstock. ( I did this step for all four of the pumpkins). I then folded the 6 ovals in half and glued them together to form a pumpkin shape. The edges of these pumpkins were inked using the same brown inkpad as before. For the stems, I cut a piece of green cardstock at 1/4 " and added it to the base. To finish off the placecards, I added a gold embroidery floss tied in a knot towards the bottom. And for the inside, I used a gold striped ribbon for added contrast against the punched border.  A few brads on either corner of the white layer and all that's left is to add the names. And ta-da,  my Thanksgiving Day placecards are complete!

I hope you all enjoyed this project. I really had a blast making these. I have a few other projects for the table planned and I hope to post those soon. I will end this post here and wish you all a good evening and Peace!! :)

"Give Thanks" Card

Hey everyone! Happy Tuesday! Hope your day is off to a great start. For this project today,  I made a Thanksgiving Day card for a challenge over at CardzTV.com. I think it turned out pretty good.  I used a variety of techniques and materials to create it. And I was able to put it together fairly quickly. Here's the pic for your perusal:

 

Not bad, right?! This is a standard A2 size card (4 1/4 x 5 1/2). I used a pale yellow cardstock for the base. The brown layer is two pieces of paint chip samples glued together. I used my Threading Water punch at the bottom, trimmed the layer to 4 x 5" and adhered it to the base. For the white layer, I cut a piece of cardstock at 3 3/4 x 4 3/4 and used my Ironworks embossing strip to emboss the side. It's kinda hard to see from the pic but it's there. I also inked the edges with a light brown inkpad and attached it.

 

Now for the table and food, I used a couple of different elements to create this. I cut the table at 1 3/4 x 2/ 3/4 out of a patterned paper that came from an Anna Griffin Scrapboook Kit. This paper is awesome! It has a velvety texture and I thought it would make a great tablecloth. I used my stylus to emboss a few lines down the bottom, which I then folded to create the look of draped fabric. Mini glue dots came in handy to attach just the ends of this faux tablecloth to the card. I wanted a 3D look to make it stand out. On top of the faux cloth I added a layer of lace. Okay it's really not lace, it's vellum. I cut the vellum at 1 x 2 3/4" and used my threading water punch for the bottom. I added some faux stiching and dots to the back of the vellum to give it the appearance of lace. I attached it to the tablecloth with mini glue dots and that's it. Our table is dressed for Thanksgiving dinner. Cool, right?!

 

For the food adorning our table, I used stickers and die cut pieces. The candelabra and vase were cut from the "Over the Hill" Cricut cartridge at 1" and 1 1/4". I used my Stardust gel pen to outline the shapes of both the candelabra and vase. I punched out different colors of leaves to add to the vase and upper left corner of the card. For the candelabra, I used candles that I stamped and cut. To finish it off, I glued them down at either end of the table, added my food stickers, popped up the turkey to give it dimension, and added a banner with the sentiment "Give Thanks". And voila, my Thanksgiving Day card is complete!

 

I hope you all enjoyed this project. It was a really fun card to make. I have a few other ideas I've been brainstorming for more Thanksgiving themed projects. I hope to bring you those soon, so stay tuned. I also have a layout I'll be working on today and possibly tomorrow. It's for a Make It Monday challenge over at thememorynest.com. The twist is you have to use a selfie pic for the layout. I'm not the most photogenic person by far and I hate having my pic taken. So this will be a challenge for me in more ways than one. So I'm hoping I can get over it and have it posted for you all tomorrow. I will end this post here, I have a few bathrooms that are screaming for my attention. Enjoy the rest of your day and Peace!! :)

 

 

Fifth Page.... Complete!!

Hey Everyone! Hope you all had an awesome weekend filled with love, laughter, and crafting, of course! My weekend was pretty low-key. We rented tons of movies, had a movie night on our driveway Friday, and did some shopping. I got a few new toys over the weekend and I went nuts trying them out.  I also organized my craft area and found a whole bunch of stuff I didn't even know I had. I felt like a pirate finding buried treasure. It was AWESOME! Plus, I was able to complete the fifth page in my paper bag album series. Man, I wish all weekends can be like this. One can only hope. Anyway, here's the pic:

 

I love it!  There's shades of pink, yellow, teal and blue running throughout the page. Keep in mind this is still that ColorBok stack that I've been using throughout this album. For this page, I started with a yellow polka dot paper for the background. I layered two pieces of pink patterned paper cut at 1 1/2" and used my new Threading Water Border Punch from Fiskars to punch the sides. This border punch I got cheap at my local store and I LOVE it!  Now for the ornaments at the top,  I just cut those from a wavy patterned paper from the stack. I inked the edges and wrapped the top of the ornaments with linen thread. I used flower embellishments at the ends for interest. I glued two of the ornaments directly to the page and for the middle one I used dimensionals. I really love the effect these ornaments give to the page.

 

Moving on, I used some more of those paint chip samples to punch out small circles. I used coordinating colors and randomly adhered them to the page. I cut a photo mat to fit the page (3 7/8 x3 7/8") and punched out 1" circles cut in half to add to the top. I used more dimensionals to pop up the pink semi circles and used metal letters for the sentiment. For the awesome photo corners, I was inspired to make these from an Anna Griffin Scrapbook Kit I purchased this weekend. I cut a 1 1/2 x 6" strip of blue patterned paper, inked the edges and used my border punch. You score the strip at 1/4" and use mountain valley folds like you would for a rosette. Once folded, I cut the strip in half and attached it to a 1" circle. The addition of  ribbon and a stamped bird and my little fan photo corners are complete. Aren't they cute?! I LOVE these!

 

To finish the page, I added a paint chip banner layered with patterned paper that I used for the ornaments. I used glittery letters for the sentiment "Moments". And ta-da, the fifth page is complete!!

 

Here's a coordinating double sided tag I made to go along with this page:

 

 

 

I really love how these turned out! All that's left now is to add it to the album.

 

I hope you enjoyed this project. It was fun putting it together, using new tools and making out of the box embellishments, but the results are stunning. I will end this post here and wish you all a great day and Peace!!:)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey Everyone! Happy T.G.I.F!!! I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween! I would do my Happy Friday Dance but I'm feeling very sluggish this morning. Coming off of a sugar high will do that. Phew! Thank goodness it's only once a year! Our trick or treating was almost canceled due to some bad weather that blew through Louisiana. Luckily, it stopped just in time and the candy hunt was on. To finish off our night, we ate candy, watched "Night of the Living Dead" and topped it off by watching Michael Jackson's "Thriller". I say that Halloween 2013 was a rousing success! Well enough about my night, my niece is having a birthday tomorrow ( she'll be turning 6) and I made her a stair step card. This was my first time making this style of card and it took a couple of tries for me to get it just right. I hope she likes it. Here's the pic for your perusal:

This is what the card looks like when its displayed. I like the 3D effect you get, it looks as though you can walk up the hills to reach the castle at the top. Here's another pic but from the side:

 

And here's a pic of the card when its folded up:

 

 

This card can fit a standard A2 size envelope. To finish it off, I'll add a small envelope to the back to place a gift card inside. Let me give you all the details on how I created this.

 

First you need a sheet of 8 1/2x 11 piece of white cardstock and trim it down to 4 1/4x 9 1/2. Next you score at 2 1/4, 4 1/2, 6 ,7 1/2 and 8 1/2. Fold along the score lines using mountain valley folds. And that gives you your card base. You can really decorate it anyway you want and use it for any occasion. I choose to do a princess castle.

 

Now for the castle, I freehanded a basic castle shape complete with towers and turrets. You can find this shape just about anywhere but I chose to draw mine. The castle is actually two pieces layered together. They are both cut at 4 3/4 x 3 3/4. I used a patterned paper that resembled stonework for the base, inked the edges and randomly embossed it. Embossing gives the castle that added dimension and the appearance of real stone. The towers and the turrets I cut them at 1" and adhered the stone tops and windows before attaching to the castle base. I also cut two banners out of pink cardstock and glued it to gold wire.  Cut a door shape, emboss it, add a gold brad for a knob and voila my castle is finis!

 

For the graasy layers leading up to the castle, I free handed those, inked them and glued them to the card base. I added some cut flowers and an embossed "stone" path. I used my white gel pen to trace around the paths and give it some realism. I stamped the sentiment "Birthday Wishes" on white cardstock and layered it on pink. I cut it into a banner shape, added rhinestones, and used dimensionals to pop it up. And that's it! Princess Castle stair step card complete! (phew! that's a mouthful).

 

 

I hope you enjoyed this project. It was a challenge to make but it was fun. Looking at the pics now, there are a few things I would like to change. Trim the castle to the right so it lines up with the rest of the card and center the door so it matches up with the paths. But other than that, I think it turned out pretty nice. Before I end this post,  I have begun work on the fifth page to my paper bag album series. I'm hoping I can have the pics up on this blog by Monday. So stay tuned for that. I hope you all enjoy your TGIF! and Peace!! :)