Sympathy From A Friend

What a pretty,  shimmery sympathy card that we received from my online "pen pal".
This year has been the worst ever, bad things happening to our family doesn't end.
Last month my husband had to say goodbye to his mom.

On a happier note, I was able to spend some time making cards recently
so I will have a few to share soon.

Thanks for looking =)

CREATE-ive Sign

Today I'm sharing something that has been 

on my to-to list for three years !

Ever since I set up an actual craft room,

I've been wanting to make this sign.

I kept putting it off because I couldn't really

commit to exactly how I wanted to do it,

I had so many ever changing ideas.

In early March I decided it had been too long,

just go for it and if I don't like it,

I can always redo it.

I've been waiting all this time to show it to you
because I wanted it to be a design team project for
Love To Craft Challenge.

We are an anything crafty goes month long challenge,

so long as your projects are family friendly.
Share what you've created with us!

If you'd like to see close up photos of each letter
and what I used on each of them, read on.


All of the letters were cut from chipboard with 
a Cricut Create machine.
Most of them have a top layer adhered on
with adhesive from a Xyron machine. 

This is a sort of "cracked glass" effect created by 

heat embossing a couple layers of ultra thick clear embossing powder.

The stamped card stock letter curved from the heat and embossing.

When I ran it through the Xyron adhesive machine, it cracked.

I could have put it in the freezer and then flexed it to cause

larger cracks, but I decided not to. I liked it as it was, subtle.

I used Stampin' Up! rubber stamps and inks on Vanilla card stock to

create the floral image underneath the heat embossing.  

The Hand Painted Petites stamp set retired in 2004.

This is a crackle paint finish with a "rusty"heart.

I painted brown acrylic craft paint directly on the chipboard letter.

I then brushed on a thick layer of crackle medium.

Once that was dry, I brushed on a thick layer of

cream colored acrylic craft paint.

If crackling, it is important to not go over the paint.

Just brush it on one time for the effect to work.

I wrapped a piece of linen thread around one leg

a few times then tied it into a bow.

 The rusty heart was made by sprinkling cinnamon

onto wet brown acrylic craft paint. Yes, ground cinnamon

from your spice cabinet ! I used to make rusty embellishments

by paper punching or die cutting shapes from sandpaper 

then painting them with acrylic craft paints. I then read

the cinnamon trick somewhere online regarding

creating faux finish effects for model train setups

so I gave it a try a while back. 

This piece is meant to replicate old painted embossed tin.

I came up with this idea when recreating tin angel ornaments

(see that post here)

I ran gold metallic card stock through an embossing folder,

roughly brushed cream acrylic paint over it then

lightly added gold metallic acrylic craft paint to the raised areas.

I typed up and printed out a tiny tag, cut it out 

then brushed gold paint along the edges.

A gold organdy knot bow is hot glued to the top. 

The entire piece is glued to the chipboard letter.

This letter is simply covered with a pieced fabric piece

scrap that I cut to fit carefully using a sharp hobby knife.

I hot glued on an old button.

The pieced fabric was a small scrap leftover from

my Families Are Like Quilts framed piece. 

This letter is covered with a page from an old dictionary.

I was worried that I might tear the paper or that I

wouldn't get it lined up well enough when adhering it

to the chipboard base , thus ruining it.

I meant to scan the page before cutting it just in case

so I could print it out if I did mess it up.

Luckily it all went well enough, whew. 

Sure, I could have used another piece of paper,

but I wanted this exact piece. 

I made the little roses from scraps of cotton fabric.

The leaves are paper punched and hand cut from card stock.

The final letter!

This one was also painted directly on the chipboard. 

I base coated it with a light gray chalk paint.

I then added a light layer, but not totally covering it,

of white acrylic craft paint.

It was then sanded in places to distress it.

I printed out a word strip from a digi kit

by Kimeric Kreations (A Creative Life)

and a tiny self portrait. 

The letters were all hot glued onto a piece of linen mat board
that I cut to fit the frame. 
 The frame was found at a fund raising church yard sale,
new in package for  $ 1.50. 

I really wanted "chunkier" letters to fill the frame
better and have more area to decorate on the letters themselves,
but the font in my Cricut cartridge wasn't the correct size.
I tried three different sizes, but they were all too wide to fit
all six letters in the frame properly. To go any shorter
which would have made them narrower was going to
look really funny. I thought about hand painting
"something every day" underneath the die cut "create",
but there wasn't enough room with this font and
once again, it wasn't going to look right with the other.

So until I find a shorter frame for these letters to fit better in,
I will be using this one - 
and I may add something small on either end
so there isn't so much space. 

Thanks for looking, have a great day =) 

I'm entering my project in the current challenge
Anything Goes Challenge at Retro Rubber.
I know, there aren't a lot of rubber stamped images on this project,
but the tiny floral stamps I did use are  15+ years old!

I'm also entering my sign project in the current
No Cards Allowed Challenge at Love To Scrap 

and

Anything Goes at Through The Craft Room Door.

Patriotic Jet Card

My husband asked me to make a birthday card 

for the son of a friend of his.

The young man is currently serving in the Air Force.

I didn't have any other images related to his hobbies.

so I came up with this one. 

Hopefully he appreciated the effort. 

Rubber stamp image is from Stampin' Up! (Need For Speed, 2011)

as are all of the card stocks, inks and textured embossing folder.

As always, thanks to our brave men and women

that keep our country safe, whether they are 

serving in the military or working as first responders

here at home. 

Thanks for looking, have a great day !

Since the image I used us over one year old,

I am entering my card in the current 

Anything Goes Challenge at Retro Rubber

First Birthday Card - take 2

This card was made for twin baby girls first birthday.

There are some glittery touches on the gift bow, candle and
around the edge of the circle tag.

I don't know the manufacturer of the Pooh and friends rubber stamp,
I've been unable to find the stamp for some time.
I made several cards with it a couple of years ago
and luckily had this stamped but uncolored image
in my "to-do-something-with-someday" box. I have searched and searched
 for that stamp and am afraid it ended up accidentally
knocked off into a trash can that sat by my desk :(
Had I been smart, I would have scanned the
image before coloring it so I could print out some more.


The circular sentiment stamp was from Stampin' Up!
Decorative paper is from Die Cuts With A View
Image was colored with inks and and aquapinter

This is a 5" x 7" card.

Thanks for looking =)


I'm entering my card in the Retro Rubber Challenge #120 Anything Goes.
I honestly have no idea how old this stamp is.
I bought it used several years ago. I'd guess it is at least 10 years old.

First Birthday Card - take 1

This is the first card I made for one year old twin girls.

Then I changed my mind and used a Winnie The Pooh

and friends stamp instead. That card will be shared later.

Image, die, embossing folder and inks

were all from Stampin' Up!

Doily from my stash

Copper glitter dimensional paint (for fabric)

Thanks for looking =) 

Skateboarding Tiger Quick Card

A Simple little card made with an old sticker,

tag, faux brad and textured card stock.

It was just to say "hi" for a little cousin

whose sisters were celebrating their first birthday.

Thanks for looking =) 

Needle And Thread Card

This is the third card I made recently.

It is a 5" x 7" card.

It was copied from the Stampin' Up! catalog.

Needle and Thread stamp set

Needlepoint Elements Thinlits die set

Berry Burst, Lucky Limeade, Lemon Lime Twist, Whisper White, Summer Sun card stocks

Berry Burst, Lucky Limeade, Lemon Lime Twist, Powder Pink, Black inks

vellum

scraps of tulle from my sewing stash

Thanks for looking, have a great day =) 

Climbing Roses Card

This is the second of four cards I made recently.

First time I have used this stamp and die set, too.

Climbing Roses stamp set

Rose Trellis thinlits dies

Big On Birthdays stamps

Fresh Fig, Lucky Limeade, Old Olive, Versamark inks

Fresh Fig, Whisper White, Basic Black card stock

Textured EF

White EP

aquapainter

dimensionals

Thanks for looking, have a great day =) 

Gatefold Blossoms Card

I finally made something for the first time in months !

Actually, I made several cards over the course of a week.

This was the first and I was not too happy with it.

First time I used this stamp and die set, too. 

They are retired from Stampin' Up!

Bouquet Blooms stamp set

Gatefold Blossoms Thinlits Dies

Whimsical words stamp set

Pink Pirouette, Berry Burst, Lucky Limeade, Whisper white

rhinestones

aquapainter

Thanks for looking, have a great day =) 

Never Forget

https://www.nps.gov/flni/index.htm

https://www.911memorial.org/