SUNDAY NIGHT CREATIVE TIME!

After a fun Sunday evening dinner with friends I came home and managed to sneak in a bit of creative time.  A friend of mine from church lost her mother and I wanted to send a nice condolence card to her. 

I found a simple sketch over at Case This Sketch that worked out quite well for what I had planned.

Here it is:

 

 

Here is my card:

 

 

 

My photos are not the greatest since without a PC I have to transfer them from a phone.  The background is a black cardstock.  It is layered with a satin embossed white paper and a black velvet embossed paper.  The flower is one of my favorite Sizzix embosslets.

 

I also have entered this card in Stacy's Card Challenge to 'use black' over at Sketches4All.

 

I then moved on to create a layout with a collage photo of flowers from a trip to Longwood Gardens in August 2013. 

 

I chose Make It Monday #29 from The Memory Nest for my sketch.

 

Here's the sketch:

 

 

I just noticed that it calls for using a mixed media element.  I hope that the rhinestones and the ink on all the edges will qualify!  I don't know how I missed that line when creating my layout...

 

Here it is!

 

 

I hope you have enjoyed this little peek at what I have been up to.  Hopefully there will be more to share tomorrow!  Thanks so much for stopping by.  All comments gratefully appreciated.

 





LET IT GO!

Todays theme for the Scraps to Treasures Team is to use a song to create something with our scraps. The song Robin chose is called 'Let It Go' from the Disney movie "Frozen".

After reviewing the lyrics I decided that I would be making a mixed media art journal page.

The Lyrics:
The snow glows white on the mountain tonight,
not a footprint to be seen.

A kingdom of isolation and it looks like I'm the queen.
The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside.
Couldn't keep it in, Heaven knows I tried.
Don't let them in, don't let them see.
Be the good girl you always have to be.
Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know.
Well, now they know!

Let it go, let it go!
Can't hold it back any more.
Let it go, let it go!
Turn away and slam the door.
I don't care what they're going to say.
Let the storm rage on.
The cold never bothered me anyway.

It's funny how some distance,
makes everything seem small.
And the fears that once controlled me, can't get to me at all
It's time to see what I can do,
to test the limits and break through.
No right, no wrong, no rules for me.
I'm free!

Let it go, let it go.
I am one with the wind and sky.
Let it go, let it go.
You'll never see me cry.
Here I'll stand, and here I'll stay.
Let the storm rage on.

My power flurries through the air into the ground.
My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around
And one thought crystallizes like an icy blast
I'm never going back; the past is in the past!

Let it go, let it go.
And I'll rise like the break of dawn.
Let it go, let it go
That perfect girl is gone
Here I stand, in the light of day.

Let the storm rage on!

The cold never bothered me anyway...

I gessoed my page and then used several shades of blue spray inks and paints for my background.  I decided to use the title, 'Let It Go', and the line 'the past is in the past' .  I selected white and silver sticker letters to add that to the lower part of my page.

I selected a pile of red scraps-

and I got out my Sizzix Ransom Alphabars.

From the scraps I cut letters for feelings that belonged in the past.

anger

pain

hate

fear

rage

terror

I used both the letters and the negatives to form the words which I adhered randomly to the top portion of the page.

I covered the whole page with Matte ModPodge.

And here it is-

Be sure to go over to the Scraps to Treasure team page and see what the rest of the team has created from this musical inspiration.

THE FIRST FEW

My first card today is a Sympathy card for a friend who recently lost her Dad. I used some velvet SEI paper, one of my favorite Sizzlet Embosslets and a new embossing folder.  I traced the embossing with a black glitter gel pen to bring out the sentiment and the edge.  I am going to enter this at Word Art Wednesday challenge #127 Anything Goes.

Here it is!

I feel bad.  I'm at that age where friends are losing parents and spouses.  I make cards all the time but never think to make Sympathy cards - they are always birthday cards, christmas cards, thank you cards, get well etc.  

My next card uses Mojo Monday sketch #340.

The sketch:

I am also entering this card at Sketches4All Spring is in the Air challenge #6 which called for using at least 3 of these colors:

and in 4Crafty Chicks challenge #189 Use Polka Dots.

My Card:

I plan to have a few more shortly so stop back again soon!

Thanks so much for dropping by.

CARD OF THE DAY

Today I made a sympathy card for Kelly to send along with the tribute book.  I had always loved the little Sizzix flower die and had used it many times so when I saw it came in a full size die I just had to have it. Today I chose to use it for my sympathy card. My card base paper was black cardstock and I topped it with an SEI Ivory patterned paper that had black velvet accents.  I used Scrapbook.com's October Card Sketch Challenge #3 for my design.

Although I kept the orientation of the card and sentiment the same I positioned my flower vertical as well.  I added glitter accents to the flower as I heard Catherine had liked bling and felt it would be fitting.

Here is the card I created:

I am also entering this in Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge #103.

Thanks for dropping by again.  Hopefully I will get to more creating now that the weekend is nearly upon us and I will have more to share with you.

TO DIE FOR...

Welcome to the Krazy Crafting Crew's October blog hop: To "Die" For. Many crafters today have die cutting machines and we thought it would be fun to let them show off some of the work they do with their machines and tell us which machine they own. I can guarantee you will have a fun time looking at all their creations and if you're in the mood for a new die cutting machine, their work might sway you on which one to buy.

Our hostess for this hop is Jearise from Lorby's World and her blog is the place to start. She will have a give away going on so make sure you check out how to get signed up for that while you're visiting her.

Now let the fun begin...

I currently own the Sizzix Big Kick. I also have the Side Kick which I have had from when the Sizzlet dies came out. Now everything can be used in my Big Kick so the little machine only gets to come to crops if I am not planning on using embossing folders or full size dies.

This is my machine and the dies and embossing folders I used for these cards:

The first reason I went with the Sizzix Big Kick is that I already had a huge collection of dies from when I used the Sizzix Big Red Original Machine. While I had the Big Red I also purchased the Side Kick when they introduced Sizzlets which are much thinner smaller dies than the originals. The next reason was that I had tested out a Cricut at a scrapbook shop and found it much too complicated - it was great to be able to cut the same design in a variety of sizes and to be able to download cuts from online or design your own but the learning curve was greater than I was willing to do when I already had so much invested in my 'so easy' to use Sizzix. At this point I decided to upgrade my 'Big Red' to the 'Big Kick'. After I got the Big Kick I started collecting embossing folders. I use these nearly all the time. The machine is SO easy to use. You create a 'sandwich' with your die/folder and paper between some cutting plates. You put it at the front of the machine and crank the handle. It quickly rolls out the back complete.

Saturday was World Card Making Day so I decided to use my Sizzix Big Kick to help me create some cards.

The first one uses Sketch #313 from Mojo Monday.

The Sketch:

My Card:

The next one uses sketch #194 from Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenges.

The Sketch:

My Card:

Thank you for stopping by and now on to Jessi at www.mylifeinartsncrafts.com

In case you arrived here from another site here is the full line up for the hop.

Full Line up:

Jearise - http://lorbysworld.blogspot.com

Lissa - http://www.somanycrafts.com/

Janet - http://janetscreativeworld.blogspot.com/

Lori - http://www.scrappinmystressaway.blogspot.com/

Cicily - http://www.pinkdalmatianscrapper.com/

Miranda - www.nanasscrapspot.com

Anita and Bugs - http://anitaandbugs.blogspot.com/

Paula - www.preciouspagesbypaula.blogspot.com

Jessi - www.mylifeinartsncrafts.com

Thanks so much for joining us and learning a bit more about die-cutting. A random commenter will be selected to win an envelope filled with various diecuts.

LAYERS OF LOVE

Just finished this pretty in pink card and wanted to share it with you.  For inspiration I used color palette #130 over at The Color Room, a Love scripture for Word Art Wednesday challenge #48 and My Mum's Craft Shop challenge #78 Love is all around.

This is the palette:

For my card I started with a layer of banana leaf in Cranberry, then a mat of SEI pink patterned paper, my next layer was a pink dotted paper from Creative Imaginations which I embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder and then inked with Distress ink in Raspberry.  My center layer was done with a Unity stamp and a background of dots using the Distress Ink Raspberry with a very light touch and a Crafters Workshop template.

Here is my card:

Thanks for dropping by for a spot of love.  Have a great day!

THANKS AGAIN!

Today I created another Thank you card using this week's Mojo Monday sketch #257 but this time I needed to include 3 of the following items for the Paper Secrets CYAO challenge.

1. Dry embossed cardstock 

 2. hand stitching 

3. BINGO card

4. feathers 

5. denim fabric

I started by using my favorite Sizzix embossing folder with the swirls and doing a piece of cardstock for the top.  Then I used my Tim Holtz Tattered Flowers die and cut a flower from denim.  I put a feather under it and a button on top to complete it.  I wanted to use dark cardstock for the banner so I stamped my sentiment with Gesso!

Here is the sketch:

and here is my creation:

Thanks again for stopping by!  Have a great weekend!

It's Christmas in July!

Welcome to the Christmas in July Card Blog Hop!

If you have arrived here from An'Jenic http://anjenicgibson.blogspot.com/
you are in the right place.

The hop started at Ashley - http://thebloghopprincess.blogspot.com and if you get lost anywhere along the way the full line-up will be posted there as well as the blog candy information.

Please have fun hopping the complete line-up for some wonderful ideas and chances to win some candy.

I decided to make 2 very simple cards that could be duplicated easily.

The first was done with a Tim Holtz Sizzix Embossing folder that reads Merry Christmas.  I used some Coredinations Whitewash Cardstock backed in green.  I sanded that and mounted it on some red cardstock which I then mounted on a 5x7 card which was edged with Tim Holtz Distress Ink Evergreen Bough.

My next card was done the same way using a Darice embossing folder that reads Peace on Earth.  For this card I used Coredinations Whitewash cardstock backed in blue.  I sanded it and mounted it on some SEI patterned paper and then mounted this on a 5x7 card that was edged with Tim Holtz Distress Ink Salty Ocean.

Your next stop on the hop is:  Cori - http://createdbycori.blogspot.com

I hope that you have enjoyed my projects and all those along the way and that you will be on the way to creating some beautiful cards for this Christmas using some of the ideas you have found on this hop.

Enjoy the rest of your summer!  Merry Christmas!