A Very Special Post

Today is a very special post that I am so honored to write. And that is because today is the 50th wedding anniversary of two very dear people, my in-laws! Happy 50th anniversary, Mom and Dad! Wow, they were beautiful then, even more beautiful now as their marriage and life together have been a testimony of God's grace and love. 

I have personally been blessed greatly from this union and lavished with God's goodness by their love, example and producing my Kris :). Here's an anniversary card that doesn't seem to be enough to show how we feel about Mom and Dad.

This next card is totally appropriate for the occasion. Because of their marriage, I have known happiness beyond my expectation and definitely beyond what I deserve by their raising a wonderful son. And they are the best in-laws any girl could ever ask for. I have seen firsthand their love and care for each other (you still see them hold hands...so sweet), their faith and trust in Christ, and their never-ending sacrifice and service to their family. I am truly thankful that God has brought them to my life. I still remember the first time I met them, way back when Kris and I were still dating. They flew from GA to CA to meet me and in an instant they made me feel part of their family.

We love you, Mom and Dad, and wish we could be there to honor and celebrate two of our most favorite people in the world! Here are a couple of my favorite photos with them. They were taken when we made a surprise visit to GA in 2010. I love the expressions on their face. You can see my original post here.

Crafty Friends Challenge #3

The CFC ladies have challenge #3 for you today, hosted by the talented Charmaine Ikach. She provided this lovely photo and color combo for inspiration. Aren't those colors beautiful together?

I was inspired by the colors and made this Mother's day card using two of my favorite Gina K Designs stamps, Nana's Needlework and NN Sentiments. The papers are Cosmo Cricket's Material Girl. I used various Memento Inks for the doily stamp.

InLinkz.com

Cute as a Button

Here's an out of the ordinary card (for me!) that I made ages ago, but never shared here. It's much more involved and layered than my typical cards, but just wanted to try it. I love the look, but I don't have the time nor patience to pull it off all the time.

I do admire those who can put so many layers of just paper and make it look fabulous. I'm not talking about just multi-layers because I do that, too. But my layers usually have more visible elements, such a doily or a die cut. I'm talking about patterned paper mounted on cardstock and an image, mounted on card stock again. I can never get them straight every time! I blame it on my cutter..haha. Oh, and I'm too lazy and too cheap :).

The stamp is GinaK Designs, papers by October Afternoon, dies by Spellbinders and sentiment by SRM Stickers Baby.

Here's how involved this card is. I paper pieced the teddy (twice!) and mounted the pieces on different layers to give this 3D effect.

Have a great day!

Thanks Sew Much

Happy Monday, my crafty friends. Did you get some craft time over the weekend? I spent most of it, cuddled with my girls (2 of them were sick), while it snowed outside. We're still below freezing here and life has slowed down a bit.

Today's card features my Spellbinders Sewing Elements dies, along with an oldie Gina K Designs stamps and Crate Paper papers. I followed the Crazy4Challenges sketch for this one. This is also for Moxie Fab's Die Cutting Challenge.

I used the scissors die cut as an accent here with a button in the center.

On another note, have you seen the peek from The Craft's Meow's February release? This set is a re-release of one of my former The Angel Company stamps. I added an image to fill the space in a 4 x 6 clear set. I have another set for this release also that will go well with my Spellbinders dies above. The TCM DT will start previews later this week!

InLinkz.com

Spellbinders Abilities and Beyond Blog Frenzy Day

The entry window for the Spellbinders Paper Arts contest on this blog has ended.

Welcome to the eighth day of the Spellbinders Abilities and Beyond Blog Frenzy!

Spellbinders™ Paper Arts is absolutely thrilled to bring you our largest product releases ever! These new collections are some of the most innovative and beautiful die cutting and embossing templates in the world! The Spellbinders Abilities and Beyond Blog Frenzy allows you a sneak peek of our introductions for the 2012 Winter Craft and Hobby Association trade show later this month.

Win today’s new Spellbinders products!
Be eligible to win the Grand Prize by entering each day, see the schedule below!

Enter my Blog Frenzy from 12:00 am Eastern Standard Time (EST) January 19, 2012 until 11:59 pm (EST) January 20, 2012. Today’s participating Blog Frenzy includes my blog and Tina McDonald, Gloria Stengel and Windy Robinson’s blogs.

You can enter yesterday’s blogs, Linda Duke, Sherry Cheever and AJ Otto's through January 19 at 11:59 pm EST. See the Spellbinders Blog for the complete schedule of designers and contest rules. Thank you Spellbinders Paper Arts for sponsoring this contest!

I can't tell you how excited I am to finally show you some projects I made using my very first licensed Spellbinders die designs. For my projects below, the S5-089 Home Sweet Home and S5-088 Sewing Elements dies took center stage. Using the same die shapes, I made a necklace pendant and a coordinating card. I will show you below how I made the miniature versions of the die cuts into a piece of jewelry.

Here are the new dies I introduced:

Sku Name S5-088 Sewing Elements

MSRP: $29.99

PRODUCT SIZES:

Spool: 1 ½ x 2"

Machine: 2 ½ x 2 1/8"

Pin Cushion: 1 7/8 x 1 7/8"

Dress Form: 1 x 2 7/8"

Buttons SM: 3/8"

Buttons LG: ½"

Thimble: 1 x 1"

Scissors: 1 5/8 x 3/4"

Sku Name S5-089 Home Sweet Home

MSRP: $29.99

PRODUCT SIZES:

House: 1 5/8 x 2"

Roof: 2 ½ x 1 ¼"

Star LG: 1 7/8 x 1 ¾"

Star SM: 7/8 x ¾"

Heart LG: 1 1/8 x 1 1/8"

Heart SM: 3/8 x 3/8"

4 Petal Flower LG: 7/8"

4 Petal Flower SM: ½"

8 Petal Flower: 5/8"

Wings: 2 ¼ x 1"

Round Tag: 1 ¼ x 1"

Rectangle Tag: 1 ¼ x 7/8"

I first die cut and embossed shrink film, a thin plastic material that shrinks and thickens when heated.

Using solvent-based inks, I stamped various images directly onto the shrink film. I highlighted the embossed parts and images with permanent markers. I punched holes where I planned to connect the die cuts with jump rings.

I pre-heated the oven to 300 degrees F (please check the instructions included in the shrink film packaging). I laid the die cuts on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

I covered the die cuts with another sheet of parchment paper and baked them in the oven for a few minutes (again, check the instructions on the film packaging). The shrink film die cuts will curl first, then shrink some more to their final size (about 20% of the original size).

I removed the cookie sheet from the oven and gently flattened the top with a metal spatula. To finish the jewelry, I connected the pieces using jump rings and attached them to a necklace metal cord.

I will be showing more projects in the next few weeks using these new dies on various projects. I hope you can join me.

By entering the Spellbinders Abilities and Beyond Blog Frenzy you agree to the Official Rules. For questions on the Spellbinders Abilities and Beyond Blog Frenzy, send an email to contestquestions@spellbinders.us; no entries will be accepted at this email address.

TO ENTER:
My blog is open for entries from 12:00 am, January 19, 2012, until 11:59 pm, January 20, 2012, EST.
1) Send your Blog Frenzy email entry to: Reveal23@spellbinders.us
2) The subject must be S5-088 Sewing Elements and S5-089 Home Sweet Home
3) Send!

Be sure to visit all the Designers on their Blog Frenzy dates!
Daily winners will receive an email within 24 hours of the blog frenzy’s closing. The winners will have 72 hours to reply to that email to claim prize. If a winner fails to respond within 72 hours, a new winner will be drawn.

To be eligible for the Grand Prize, enter each and every Blog Frenzy within its designated time period, send your entries from the same email address for each entry. The Grand Prize has a retail value of over $1900 and includes the complete Spellbinders line of die cutting and embossing templates released at the 2012 Winter CHA show, and a Spellbinders Grand Calibur® Die Cutting and Embossing Machine!

I love your comments! Unfortunately, your comment does not count as an entry, so be sure to enter as stated above, and then leave a comment! Thank you for visiting!

To receive information and announcements from Spellbinders, sign up for the Newsletter and subscribe to the Spellbinders Blog. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube and Pinterest. Thank You!

Spellbinders is a trademark of Spellbinders Paper Arts, llc.
Grand Calibur and Edgeabilities are registered trademarks of Spellbinders Paper Arts, llc.

 ----------------------------------------------
Supplies used for Home Sweet Home card and pendant set:

Tools: S5-089 NEW Home Sweet Home, S4-324 Ribbon Banners, and LF-010 Square Bracket Edge Box - (Spellbinders Paper Arts); Spellbinders Grand Calibur Machine; Pinking shears; Jewelry Pliers, Necklace Chain, Jump Rings (Making Memories); oven

Stamps: Sentimental Banners, Beautiful Lace, The Love Chapter (Layers of Color)

Inks: Memento Rich Cocoa, Desert Sand, Stazon Black (Tsukineko), Spun Sugar (Ranger), Y28 Lionet Gold (Copic)

Papers: Ivory cardstock (Gina K Designs), Romantique (Prima Marketing), Luxury Stack (DCWV)

Specialty Medium: Shrink film (Grafix Arts) 

Accents: seam binding (HugSnug), paper rose (Wild Orchid Crafts), button and lace (stash), wool felt (Vintage Vogue)

Supplies used for Sewing Elements card and pendant set:

Tools: S5-088 NEW Sewing Elements, Spellbinders Edgeabilities® E8-006 Classic Petal and E8-001 Classic Scallop Edgeabilities and LF-010 Square Bracket Edge Box (Spellbinders Paper Arts); Spellbinders Grand Calibur Machine; Pinking shears; Jewelry Pliers, Necklace Chain, Jump Rings (Making Memories); oven

Stamps: Nana’s Needlework Sentiments (Gina K Designs); Sent with Love and Lovely Labels 18 (The Craft’s Meow); The Love Chapter (Layers of Color)

Inks: Memento Rich Cocoa, Desert Sand, Stazon Black (Tsukineko), Y28 Lionet Gold (Copic)

Papers: Ivory and brown cardstock (Gina K Designs), 5th Avenue and Attic Treasures paper packs (Melissa Frances), Luxury Stack (DCWV)

Specialty Medium: Shrink film (Grafix Arts)

Accents: burlap twine (May Arts), buttons and lace (stash), wool felt (Vintage Vogue)