Monday, March 30, 2015

Inspire Me Giftie Tag (03/31/2015)

Sometimes ya just gotta make a quick gift with a tag! Let's see what I did:

A friend of mine has been looking for large shredded, unsweetened coconut chunks. I found some at my local Co-op grocery store, and bought her some :)

I made this tag to go with the bag of coconut. She is incredible and this was just a little gift and tag to tell her how much she inspires me!

Here is another angle of the tag:

 
I used Lawn Fawn stamp sets: Flutter By and Winter Gifts, and Lawn Fawn's Tag, You're It dies. I stamped, then die cut out the tag on two different patterned papers. I fussy cut out the tags and layered the two papers together. I stamped the butterfly and sentiment on the paper, and then I colored the butterfly, and then covered it with some Wink of Stella clear glitter pen.

I tied up the tag with some Lawn Fawn Lawn Trimmings hemp bakers twine, and my little giftie was done.

I hope my friend enjoys her coconut!

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

Friday, March 27, 2015

Sympathy in Spring (03/27/2015)

Sympathy cards are always tough to do. It is difficult to make something pretty and nice, but soft and subtle enough to help convey sorrow and sadness, but also hope that dark days will brighten somewhat.

Spring is a great way of sharing sympathy - we hope that life can be renewed and be a little less difficult. So, I chose my favorite go-to for spring, and did Cherry Blossoms for the card.

I used Distress Inks to create the background and then layered the die cut cherry blossoms and branches over the background. I added some pearls to the inside of the blossoms for more oomph.

I also did the inside of the card:

I heat embossed the sentiment, combining different sentiments from Lawn Fawn's So Much To Say in silver embossing powder, and stamped Lawn Fawn's Petite Florals some light pink flowers around the outside edges.

I hope this card helped my friend through a dark time.

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Happy Graduation (03/25/2015)

 A friend of mine graduated from college recently. I made this card for her:




I used some Spellbinders labels in graduated sizes co cut different patterned and solid paper. I dry embossed them to give extra texture, after bending the paper a bit to give it some "lift" so that they layered like an open book. Here is another look:

I added all sorts of bling, and flowers. I wanted lots of depth and texture.

Because this card was so "thick," I made a box out of paper to use as an envelope. The box looked like this:



I added more bling to the top of the box, and covered the inside and outside of the box with the musical stamps from Lawn Fawn's Teeny Tiny Backdrops

I am so excited about Carly's graduation! Congrats :)

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

Monday, March 23, 2015

Happy Birthday Monsters (03/23/2015)

Birthdays are so much fun! And, a gang of monsters makes it even better :) Check out a card full of silly monsters:


I used Lawn Fawn's Monster Mash to make the monster party. I stamped and masked the monsters so I could group them together. After they were all stamped, I colored them with Copics and also used a white pen to add some texture on a monster or two. I masked them all up and distressed inked the background. I cut the panel out of Lawn Fawn's Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables, and then matted it with black cardstock. 

I wanted a bit more color, so I created a stenciled background with a circle dot stencil, inspired by Kristina Werner's "Easy Layered Flowers with Copic Colors" blog post. I layered a circle stencil over kraft cardstock, then used several colors of Distress Inks and ink blending tools to add ink to the card. After this, I shifted the stencil slightly, then used my white gel pen to add circle outlines over the colored circles. 


 Every birthday party needs a balloon, so I also used Lawn Fawn's Party Balloons die cuts and cut out a star-shaped balloon and stamped a Happy Birthday sentiment on it from Lawn Fawn's Bake Me a Cake set, and a balloon string. I covered the balloon with some high-gloss glue to give it some shine.


 I added the balloon to the middle monster, and the card was done! So silly :)

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

Monday, March 16, 2015

Thanks (03/16/2015)

A simple Thank You can really go a LOOONG way! I truly believe in the power of thanking people, for going the extra mile, and for even doing their own job and for doing what is right. I recently had the pleasure of seeing incredible professionals in action, while a loved one was in the hospital. These true heros took such great care of my friend, and I was compelled to create a Thank You card to send them afterwards to let them know how much their hard work meant to me and my family. Here is the card I made:



I wanted something a little different, so I created a card using Lawn Fawn's Stitched Party Banner set. I die cut two pieces in the solid blue color as the card base, and scored one about 1/2" from the top, added some dry adhesive, and adhered the two pieces together to create a top-folding card. 

I cut some patterned paper using the smaller banner, and layered them together and adhered them to the card base. I used the circle die to cut a circle on white card stock covered with Sparkle N Sprinkle's 2-1/2" Tear-ific Tape. I then used Lawn Fawn's Scripty Thanks die to cut out the sentiment from the die cut circle. I also layered more Tear-ific tape over cardstock and cut out the Scripty Thanks again. Then, I peeled off the release paper to reveal the Tear-ific adhesive, and burnished in some Sparkle N Sprinkle Hanauma Bay glitter on the Scripty Thanks sentiment and some crystal glitter on the circle. I inlaid the glittered Thanks into the negative space in the circle, and adhered it together. This is what it looks like close up:


I am in LOVE with this Hanauma Bay glitter from Sparkle N Sprinkle! It is an Opaque glitter and has so much depth to it! This glitter sparkles and glistens, and is amazing! I LOVE it!

I hope this thank you helps these health professionals know how much their kindness and support helped my family through a stressful ordeal. They made it an amazing experience!

If you haven't, please make sure you thank your first responders, your health care professionals, your service men and women, and everybody else who works hard to make all of our lives better, safer, and healthier! They are the true heros!

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

Friday, March 13, 2015

Smiles All Around (03/13/2015)

Smiling makes me happy! And, here is my favorite photo of two of my favorite people, and they have BIG, BIG smiles!



This card makes ME smile too :)

I stamped a background image onto red card stock, with Versa Mark ink. I used Lawn Fawn's Say Cheese Lawn Cuts to cut out the "polaroid" frame from patterned paper and inserted the photo. I layered that over some black card stock, and adhered it to the card base.

I die cut a banner, then stamped the sentiment with Versa Mark ink on black card stock and used white embossing powder to make it pop.

I really hope this makes my wonderful friends smile, and have a great day!

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Cherry Blossoms Mixed Media (03/11/2015)

I haven't done a lot of mixed media type creations, but I just HAD TO! And, this is what I did ... have I said yet that I am crazy about cherry blossoms? Yep, I do ... and I just can't get enough of them in crafting projects ... so, of course that is what I used for a mixed media project. Let's peek at it, shall we?



One of our local art stores had an art show for charity. The art store donated 6x6 canvases and the rules were we had to do something in/on the 6x6 canvas. I of course whipped out my favorite cherry blossom die (Spellbinders Cherry Blossoms) and made all sorts of blossoms, and added some glitter. 

I also used a cloud stencil and used distress inks to add some clouds to the background. After that, I layered on the branches and blossoms, and adhered everything. 

Easy peasy, and so much fun! I love this ... and it sold at the art auction, so hopefully somebody is enjoying it! 

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

Monday, March 9, 2015

Hello Card (03/09/2015)

Sometimes you just need a quick HELLO card. This one came together pretty quickly, and it was so much fun! I got to use all sorts of glitter, and two tape sizes. Let's say HELLO to the HELLO card shall we?


 I used the 1/4" Tear-ific Tape and 1/8" Tear-ific Tape from Sparkle N Sprinkle. I used Sparkle N Sprinkle's *incredible* Luau Green and Purple Rain Velvet Glitters, which are microfine. To prep for the glitter, I adhered strips of the Tear-ific tape, in either of the two widths in a repeating pattern. Then, I glittered up a storm in rainbow-ish colors. I used some other glitters to complete the rainbow, one strip of color at a time.

After I finished the glitter, I stamped the sentiment using Alt E New's Halftone Hello stamp along the diagonal above the glittery rainbow. Afterwards, I added a black piece of card stock to frame the front panel, and mounted the panel onto a white card stock base.

All in all, a fun and colorful card, with LOTS of glitter! Here's hoping it makes somebody's day when they receive it :)

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

Friday, March 6, 2015

Happy Birthday (03/06/2015)


Howdy! One of my workmate's birthday is coming up, and I got to make him a card from all of us ... here is the card I made for him:

I used two of my favorite Sparkle N Sprinkle glitters: Luau Green Velvet Glitter, and Hanauma Bay Opaque Glitter. Here are some close-ups of the glitters:



I absolutely love these two glitters - they make me think of Hawaii, and of course the colors of Hanauma Bay - one of the most clear and sparkling waters on the island!

I also stamped a striped background on the white card stock panel, and added Sparkle N Sprinkle's Blue Silver Embossing Powder, which gave the background just a little extra sparkle and pop.

The die is Memory Box's Grand Happy Birthday. To make this card, I adhered a strip of Sparkle N Sprinke's 2-1/2" Tear-ific Tape diagonally across a black cardstock panel. I laid the die cut along the diagonal and ran it through my Cuttlebug. Then, I used my paper trimmer to cut the rest of the panel which wasn't cut from the die, to keep the edge along the diagonal. Then, I got to use the Hanauma Bay glitter! Woot Woot! I LOVE the depth of this glitter, and all the colors within it!

 Look at those colors!

It felt like it needed a bit of a definition, so I used Sparkle N Sprinkle's 1/8" Tear-ific Tape and adhered a strip of it right up against the base of the 2-1/2" tape. I used my good ol' "finger tool" and burnished in the lovely Luau Green glitter, and created a nice, perfect pop of color!

I really like to decorate the inside of cards - they just don't seem finished if I can't do an inside, and since this was to celebrate a birthday, I went to town using Lawn Fawn's Bake Me a Cake stamp set, and paper pieced the cake layers from two of Lawn Fawn's Petite Paper Packs: Let's Polka and Hello Sunshine.



I also used some of the little stamps in the stamp set to add some color around the outer edge of the inner card panel. I used the sentiment from the card set to add a sentiment above the cake, along with the candles on top!

And, heck, while I was at it, I made an envelope. I used Lawn Fawn's Louie's ABCs and die cut out the letters and added them to an envelope I made using an envelope maker.



I hope Damian enjoys his birthday card - it will be fun celebrating his special day with him.

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

Sparkle N Sprinkle Guest Designer! (03/06/2015)

I have the most exciting news to share ... Sparkle N Sprinkle has chosen me, and five other amazing women, to be guest designers!! We each have a three month term, and mine will be over the summer, along with Ani. Thank you so much Margaret, Anne, and all the wonderful people at Sparkle N Sprinkle for this incredible opportunity!!!

Check out all the amazing guest designers at:
http://sparklensprinkle.com/meet-our-guest-designers-for-2015/

I am over the moon and can't wait to share Sparkle N Sprinkle's products and amazing stamps with all of you!

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris