Field Of Clover Flyover

While cleaning up the teeny tiny pieces from the punched border card I made, 

I thought to myself that some of them resembled four leaf clover, 

what could I make with them...

This is what I came up with:

an airplane flying over a field full of four leaf clover ! 

The airplane is from the retired stamp set "Toy Box" from Stampin' Up!

It is cut out, water colored and adhered to the card on dimensionals.

I used a home made stencil to sponge Bashful Blue ink to make clouds.

I inked and stamped the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp with a Garden Green marker. 

I did it in separate sections to make the greeting into one long one for the banner. 

The banner is a scrap of white paper I trimmed.

Thanks for looking =) 

Inspired St. Pat's Card

All items used were from Stampin' Up!

Card stocks:

Whisper White

Wild Wasabi

Pear Pizazz

Certainly Celery

Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set

Wild Wasabi ink

Lace Border Punch

Rhinestones colored with a Sharpie marker

Clear drying liquid glue

Idea totally lifted from an advertisement for a paper crafting store:

In Like A Lion

It is officially the first day of March, but with all the horrible weather yesterday, Leap Day, March is entering like a Lion around here ! 

Today is going to be beautiful after the relentless strong winds all day long yesterday. I hope to pick up the mess before the next round of severe storms rolls across tomorrow. 

Thankfully we have nothing more than lots of branches down around the property, one gutter blown off the house. Certainly nothing to complain about. I can not imagine going through what many areas of the Midwest did, how tragic. 

On a crafty note, I've several masculine cards I made over the weekend that I will be sharing soon. There are several guys with birthdays in March I'll be sending cards to for my Card Project 2012 . 

I hope everyone is safe and remains so over this upcoming spring storm season.

Happy Leap Day 2012 !

A really old card I made a friend.

 The frog "jumps for joy" revealing "HOPPY FOR YOU"

I am sorry that there are no
step by step photos to share since I made this so long ago.
I was surprised I even had a photo of it !
I'm not even sure of what this technique may be called
to show you where to find directions.

As best as I can recall, here is basically how it was made:
 I stamped and colored the front of the card with the Unforgettable stamp set from Stampin' Up!.
I then used an Xacto knife and straight edge to cut out the tall thin window in the front of the card.
I layered another piece of white card stock behind it and stamped the word stamps through the opening.
I would have cut a thin strip of card stock to slip between these two card fronts
( I glued along the edges of the two fronts leaving an opening for the strip to fit).
I stamped, colored and cut out the frog then attached it to from the front of the card through the opening onto the strip with a dimensional (pop dot).
Pull the strip to make the frog jump and reveal the message.

Thanks for looking =) 

Thanks Coach - Basketball spinning element card

 I made this card for the basketball coach in 2007. It has a spinning basketball that starts at the right side of the card covering the "thank you" then it makes a basket on the left side of the card. It took quite a while to figure out how to make it work as I envisioned and I am sorry to say that I have no pattern or step by step photos since I made it so long ago.

Most stamps, all inks and card stocks are from Stampin' Up! I used the Have A Ball stamp set (retired) and a stripes background stamp (also retired) from Stampin' Up! Unknown manufacturer for the clear alphabet set as well as a Snap Stamps alphabet set. White acrylic indoor/outdoor paint and acetate to create the basket.

Instructions for this type of spinner card can be found here:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/spinner_card/

Thanks for looking =) 

Thanks Coach - Bowling gatefold card

I made this Thank You card for a bowling coach recently. It is a large card, the finished size is 6" x 8 1/2" .  I made it extra large for the nearly 30 bowlers to have enough room to sign.

Start with an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of white card stock. Follow the diagram below to score and cut. I used the largest circle on my Coluzzle to cut the bowling ball and made my own bowling pin pattern. Make a complete bowling ball and bowling pin from Whisper White card stock then trace them onto the card front . Keep these to finish as the bowling ball and bowling pin to be glued to the card front.

The sort of marbled look on the bowling ball was achieved by drizzling several colors of acrylic craft paint onto a piece of acetate, swirling them together then smooshing the card stock onto it. I worked it a little bit with the brayer. You could make marbled look paper using ink refills for stamp pads and shaving cream. I chose to use my paints because I have so many and they are much cheaper than ink refills.

The holes on the bowling ball were made with black card stock cut with a 1/2" circle punch and a 1" circle punch that I trimmed down (would have been nice to have a 3/4" !). I would have preferred to punch through the bowling ball and adhere black card stock to the backside, but my punch wouldn't reach far enough (and I didn't have a 3/4" punch). I suppose I could have tried to cut them by hand with an Xacto knife...........

The bowling pin stripe was made by sponging on Real Red and Cranberry Crisp inks from Stampin' Up!. I made a mask with the wide oval punch from Stampin' Up ! and sticky notes. I also sponged on a little bit of Going Gray around the edges of the bowling pin

I drew horizontal lines across the center piece of the card to simulate the wooden boards on the lane.

"Thank You" is from the Much Appreciated stamp set, Stampin' Up.

"Coach" is an unknown clear alphabet set. I used Snap Stamps to make the name.

I stamped the outside of the envelope with the Have A Ball (retired) stamp set from Stampin' Up!

Thanks for looking =) 

Valentine's From Friends

Thank you, Margy =)

Just love all the bright colors !

The inside was jsut as cheery cute.

Thank you, Brenda =)

Awww, what a cute little cupid and yummy colors!

Blossom Punch Four Leaf Clover

Four leaf clover created with the new Blossom Punch from Stampin' Up!

Most all items used were from Stampin; up! although many are retired.

Blossom punch - cut off a portion to create the clover

Glossy White card stock

Twist Spectrum ink pad

Brayer

Green Galore card stock

Bermuda Bay card stock and ink

Daffodil Delight card stock

Stripes embossing folder - to create background on the Green Galore card stock

Yellow organdy ribbon

Metal edge tag - edge colored with a green Sharpie marker

Mystic Mint glitter

Clear drying liquid glue - brush on clover then sprinkle with glitter

Black chisel edge Sharpie marker - run along the edges of card stock to create a "faux black card stock layer"

Paper Piercer 

Stamp image from the "Kiss Me" retired stamp set

Thanks for looking =)

Glittery Heart & Organdy Ribbon Candle Wrap + Tips

I love making something special to wrap around otherwise boring jar candles, the ideas are limitless ! I used to make them every Christmas season to donate to the elementary school holiday bazaar that I was chairwoman of. They can be as simple or as elaborate as you'd like to make and can be made out of so many different items. They always sold well, especially those that had the poem attached for teachers.






If you are like me and do not have any glitter paper or a scalloped edge heart punch, you can make your own. It takes a bit of time and patience, but works great in a pinch! I'll share my tips on how to "fake" both supplies.



To make the glittery heart, punch a heart shape (I used the Full Heart from Stampin' Up!) out of red card stock. Generously cover with glitter glue. Set aside to dry.



To make the scalloped edge heart, you will need several circle punches. I used twenty 1/4" circles to go around this Full Size Heart Punch from Stampin' Up!. You will need to play around with the number of circles and the size of the circles depending on the punch shape you wish to make a scalloped frame around. Be sure to lay out the pieces first (you may want to work with scrap paper first) before starting to glue because is some cases this technique won't work well. It worked perfectly with the two punches from Stampin' Up!

After the glittery heart is dry, flip it upside down. Run a thin line of clear drying liquid glue around the edge of the heart, just enough for the edges of the circles to cover. Carefully place each circle half off the edge of the heart shape and right next to each other. You could very carefully flip the heart over while holding it between your fingers to check progress, just be sure not to move the circles unless needed.



After you have all of the circles glued in place, set it aside once again to dry.

Obviously if you have the correct glitter paper and heart punches (unlike myself) you could make this much quicker ;)

Embellish as you wish and attach to a bow wrapped around the candle jar. I made a little tag with a scrap of shimmery paper and a stamp image from the Stampin' Up! set A Happy Heart. It was stamped with Real Red classic ink. Trim the tail with a pair of scissors. Slightly bend the strip between your fingers to give it a little more dimension if you wish then glue onto the large glitter heart. Add a tiny heart (from the Heart To Heart Punch from Stampin' Up!) and a rhinestone.



Never leave a candle burning unattended and remove the decorative band before lighting !

Thanks for looking =)

Punched Hearts and Wire Candle Wrap

I love making something special to wrap around otherwise boring jar candles, the ideas are limitless ! I used to make them by the dozens every Christmas season to donate to the school holiday bazaar. They always sold well, especially those that had the poem attached for teachers.

Here is another wire wrapped heart project I made some time ago, an ornament. You could even wrap a single heart or two as I did on this candle wrap and attach it to the front of a card.

Instructions:
Punch out several hearts from decorative paper. I used two sided designer paper that was a Hostess item from Stampin' Up! I also punched the same number and sizes of hearts from lightweight cardboard. Lightly coat the card board with clear drying liquid glue then attach the paper to it. Set aside to dry.


Once dry, I lightly sanded the edges of each heart with fine grit sandpaper to expose a little bit of the white core of the designer paper. You could sponge ink on the edges instead of sanding.


Glue smaller hearts or other embellishments on top of larger hearts if you'd like. Set aside to dry.

After all of your hearts are decorated and dry, you will now work on wrapping each one with wire. I can not tell you how much wire you will need, it depends on the size of the jar and hearts you are wrapping as well as how many wraps and loops you make in the wire. I used fine gauge wire from Stampin' Up! ( Wire Works from several years ago) on a small spool and just kept it attached to the spool as I worked. Use whatever method works for you to attach the wire to the backs of the hearts. I used small pieces of sturdy clear packing tape.


Be sure to keep the candle you are making the wrap for nearby so you can check your progress to see how many hearts or how much wire you need as you work.


This type of candle wrap can be made out of many different shapes and items including letters, beads, wooden trinkets, etc. for many different holidays.



Never leave a candle burning unattended and remove the decorative band before lighting !


Thanks for looking =)