Butterfly Sympathy

I've been spending time the last couple of days playing around with a Technique which one of my fellow designers, at Sparkle N Sprinkle, April Williams, had shared last week.  She called it Acetate Resist.  I made a few pieces, using the technique, and decided that this butterfly piece would work well for a sympathy card.

I followed the tutorial and then also stamped the butterfly image in the center, on top of one that was already there, in black Staz-On.  The butterfly image can be found on Set 398 - Brocade Backgrounds. I happened to have the butterfly ribbon in my stash, and I thought it worked in nicely.  The saying is from Sympathy Set 382, which I cut and embossed with Spellbinders Labels Nine.

This is how it turned out:

Thanks for stopping by today.  Remember to visit next week (Feb. 9th and 10th) to get in the game with the next Sparkle N Sprinkle Blog Hop.  We're going to be having a Spring Fling!

SPARKLE N SPRINKLE BLOG HOP - DECO DIVAS AND LOVE IS IN THE AIR

Hi there, and a Happy New Year!  Welcome to the first 2012 Sparkle N Sprinkle Blog Hop.   Our theme to get this year off to a great start is Deco Divas and Love is in the Air - that means "not your usual Valentine's Day Blog Hop".   If you've arrived here by way of the talented  Shanna Shands then you are on the right track, and have probably got a taste of what I mean!  If you did not arrive via Shanna, then I suggest you pop right back to the beginning of the fun at Sparkle N Sprinkle, so that you can be eligible for all the prizes that are up for grabs, as well as viewing all the wonderful artwork in store for you along the way.

On with the show!  For my first card today I chose to use the Nikki Romance Set 400.  With the help of a couple of Spellbinder die cuts, a Cuttlebug folder, an EK Cupcake border punch and some yummy "icing", Nikki would like to invite you over for a Valentine Cupcake and a Martini!  For complete directions visit the SNS Gallery here.

For my second card, I decided to go for the younger audience - so I tried my hand at a fun telescoping card. This is less complicated than it looks, as long as you keep to symmetrical shapes!!  The idea is you start with the smallest shape on top and then as you unravel your card, it tells a story!

So I began with my first Spellbinders scalloped heart die and used stamps again from the Nikki Romance Set 400.  I colored the words with Copic markers and then misted the stamp with blender ink before stamping - that's my way of "huffing" using Copics!
   

The next step was to find my subjects.  I really wanted to do something with animals and so when I came across this cute Fish Set 211, I was "hooked"!


     I stamped Sunny and colored with Copics.                          Then I repeated with "Fish"erman

                        

.... and for the last frame - I stamped them both - going in for their first kiss!

The complete Fishy Fairy Tale looks like this:

You'll find complete directions right here.

Hope you've enjoyed my cards today.  Remember three of the designers have an additional mystery prize, so if you leave me a comment, you'll increase your chances of winning one of those, before jumping on over to another talented new SNS Designer, Gerlinde.   Good luck and enjoy the rest of the Hop!

Distress Note!

For Gillian's Birthday Thank You Notes, I wanted to make them music-related.  I had some recycled music sheets lying around that had been used for center pieces at the school's last choir dinner.  I crumpled them up a bit more and distressed them with Distress Inks (I only used two colors on the card - Forest Moss and Vintage Photo).  I distressed every element on the card (except for the brads!).  The base layer, the green strip, the torn music sheet, the treble clef piece and the saying label - oh yes, AND the ribbon (that's my favorite piece of the card!)

Both the Treble Clef and the saying were from Sparkle N Sprinkle's Rock 'N Roll Stamp Set 428.  I applied a little Copper Embossing Powder around the edge of the treble clef piece, just to give a little "bling" to the vintage look.

OK, that's all my have-to-make cards taken care of!  Now I'm ready to have some stamping fun!!

Remember to stop by again on the 19th of this month, when Sparkle N Sprinkle will be having its next Blog Hop:  Deco Divas and Love is in the Air.  You won't want to miss the Design Team's creations - not to mention a chance to win prizes!

See you then.

Head Over Heels

As I said in my previous post, we just got done celebrating Gillian's Sixteenth Birthday, last Monday.  It usually marks the end of the craziness in this house - which starts with our Halloween bash!  So I'm now getting back to a routine - though I was just noticing that I haven't changed my closet over to winter yet (and believe me, with the temperatures the way they are, those little tank tops are not doing the job anymore!!).  That will be one of this weekend's "chores".

Anyway, before I get started with real stamping (I've a few projects that are due soon and I've been a little tardy with most of them over the past two months, so I want to be ahead of the game this month), I wanted to share one last card - Gillian's birthday card.  A card with no stamping!  

Our Gillian just loves to shoe shop and between Christmas and her birthday, she acquired four new pairs of boots!  Yes, I know, how many boots can you wear at one time? - but hey, I figure she could be spending her gift money on worse things!  So boots she got!  While I was looking for dress templates (look back a couple of blogs if you haven't seen that one), I "stumbled in my high heeled boots" onto this one by Sara Sandberg 2011.  BTW for those that are still interested in the dress template it was by Debbie Olson for Paper Craft March/April 2009 issue.

Gillian's favorite color is purple.  She loves performing, church and flowers.  And so here is what I came up with:    

Using the boot template on the left side, I decorated the right side with flowers made from the leftover pieces of the card and Spellbinders Rose Creations.  I made my flower centers by dipping the brads in Versamark and heat embossed with the new Sparkle N Sprinkle Concord Star embossing powder.  I picked up the charm in a Michaels'  bargain bin,.  It was perfect with the cross, being predominantly purple and tying it on the the boot with the ribbon gave the card a little more than a monochromatic look.

The good news: the recipient fell head over "heels" in love with it as she opened it - in fact she barely noticed the Godspell tickets that fell out as she pulled it from the envelope!!  I say this is one for the books, or should I say "boots"!!  

Thanks Snow Much!

Thanks for stopping by,

It's been a crazy week since I last posted.  My daughter, Gillian, turned sixteen on Monday, so we've been busy with celebrating for several days as a result!  Of course, I had her cards to make, but the Christmas Thank You's weren't even done yet.  It was one of those things, I had ten to do, but wanted to make them look like I hadn't just spent ten minutes on them! Thank Goodness for Tear-ific Tape and glitter!  I got them done today - hey better late than never!  ...And now I have ten more Birthday Thank You's to do tomorrow!

I  had to make my own saying, using three Sparkle N Sprinkle stamps, two from Set 415 Thanks a Bunch, and one from Set 386 Christmas Greetings.  I cut the necessary words from each saying and placed them on an acrylic block to stamp.  I cut and embossed with Spellbinders Ribbon Tag Trio Two. I inked up the embossed side of the Cuttlebug Embossing Folder Snowflakes to make the background. For the big snowflake I used Tear-ific Tape and then die cut with Spellbinders 2010 Snowflake Pendant and removed the protective film and then applied Waterfall Glitter.  The Snowflake was attached to the card with dimensionals and then I wrapped the saying on with turquoise ribbon under some organdy white ribbon to finish the card.

Thanks "snow" much for joining me today!

Not your usual January Blues!

Hi everyone,

It's OK, I am still here - just a little oil needed to get me going again!   Unlike most, I really like January, as I look forward to getting my own time back and getting back to a routine - which I tend to lose every year right around Halloween!  Each year it just seems to get worse instead of better!  Why is that? You'd think I would know by now to start making these Christmas cards in July - with 162 to do this year (I was still up there on Christmas Eve)!

I have a few birthdays (all older ladies) right between Christmas and New Year and had to come up with something quick after I was done with the Christmas cards.  I don't even remember where I got the recipe, but it was just the ticket and I quickly was able to make four of them while everyone else in the house was sleeping in on Boxing Day!

It made a nice change of pace from the Christmas theme too.  

As you can see there wasn't much stamping to it, the only stamp being the saying from Sparkle N Sprinkle set 429 Blossoms,  but it sure was fun to do.  Hope you like my version of the January Blues!