March is almost here! And so is the CD calendar...

Can you tell me to where February disappeared? If you've figured it out, let me know. It seems as if February first was yesterday. Although the month went by quickly, it was a good month. That mostly had to do with the grandkids. They came over several times and then we went on our yearly outing to the Lion's Club Pancake Festival. Blew the "life change" (diet is such a four letter word), but it was worth it. Watched as their grandfather bought tokens so they could get face tattoos, balloons, and cotton candy. Both boys stated they couldn't remember him doing that for them. But you know, spoiling the grandkids is what life is all about! And today a handmade ceramic heart-shaped box arrived in the mail. Life is good!


So to the calendar page. Cut some Basic Grey Bittersweet paper to the size of your CD case. Stamp the Penny Black Penmanship stamp in Shabby Shutters along the bottom of the page. Stamp the Flourish stamp in Shabby Shutters along the top right. Run the Basic Grey Scarlet Letter tag attached to plain paper through the printer, printing the saying. I used Photo Shop to place the lines as I wanted them to print. Attach to page as shown. Attach the march calendar page as shown, curling the lower left edge. Ink the flower with the olive Color Box ink and then spray with a mixture of Walnut Crystals, white Perfect Pearls and water. Dry with a heat tool. Be careful not to scorch your flower. Fold flower in fourths and adhere to top of tag. Add some ribbon leaves and a sheer ribbon flower (don't know from where). Curl some gold wire and stick out behind flower. Dot the little pearls in the flower with Lemon Yellow Perfect Pearls. Attach two Prima flowers in the lower right. Adhere two little white flowers cut from a strip of lace to the center of the green flowers. Dot the center with yellow liquid pearls. Create antennae for the butterfly with tightly curled gold wire and glue to back of butterfly. Raise the butterfly with pop dot and adhere to the page in the lower right corner. Attach a silk ribbon leaf and stem to the top of the calendar and pop dot a decorative narcissus on the top of the stem. With Lemon Yellow Liquid Pearls, dot the left side of page and the flourish on the top right. Allow the Liquid Pearls to dry and insert in your calendar.... Happy Spring!

The March wind roars
Like a lion in the sky,
And makes us shiver
As he marches by.

When winds are soft
and the days are warm and clear
Just like a gentle lamb,
Then spring is here.
author unknown

Above all, Be Creative.

Flowers,flowers everywhere!

QuicKutz has the most awesome new set of nesting flowers.
Click here to see them. The smaller dies that appear to be whole are meant to be used within the larger open shapes to create flowers with a dimensional shape to them. Or if you want use the center pieces by themselves and snip the connecting lines to have even more pieces with which to play and create. For a really great source of flower techniques check out Inkstains or Studio 490.

The flowers were created as follows using a whole bunch of different techniques and products. Blue flower: stamp word stamp with embossing ink, coat with clear embossing powder (keep your thumb out of it - I didn't) and then finish with a coupled of light spritzes of Blueberry Memories Mists.
Large dark pink flower: snip out a second center (gridded paper) and a third open center, stack and use Glossy Accents for the center. Two small flowers: cut a second center for the black one and layer. Stamp with embossing ink and check stamp, emboss with Verdigris EP, finish off with a spritz of walnut stain mixed with white Perfect Pearls. Yellow flower with green leaves: stamp grunge flourish stamp with embossing ink, emboss with clear EP, rub yellow Distress Ink over flower, wipe off the embossed area, rub orange Distress Ink over center, wipe off embossed area. Leaves are same technique but sprayed with Margarita Memories Mist and curled while damp. Velvet Flowers: the center flower is au
natural, as I bought it, the left is sprayed with a my own mixture of Walnut stain powder, white perfect pearls and water in a mini mister. This mixture will keep forever and is very economical to use. You can also use your Distress Reinkers to make your own mists. Love those little spray tubes from Ranger. The spray heads are fine and produce the best results!

Pink Flower: Grunge flourish stamp (can you tell it's my new favorite?), white embossing powder, then use Acrylic dabbers in pink and red very lightly on the flower, mist with water! White flower: die cut one large white flower. Use scrap paper under the center portion, protecting the outer white area, lightly ink the center with a golden yellow ink pad. Die cut a small green flower, protect the outer area and ink the center with a red ink pad. Yellow flower: Ink and chalk the center portion of the flower only. Little yellow flower: This is one of my favorites! it did start off all white. Snip the largest center die out of white paper, then die cut the smallest combination. Lightly ink the larger white piece with yellow ink. Repeat the inking of the center portion, just go a bit heavier. Then lighlty ink all edges and the center with red ink. My pads aren't juicy and new anymore so this works great! Use yellow Liquid Pearls to lightly dot the outer and inner petals. Green flower: this flower is in it's original state with only a bit of clear embossing over the flower. Once again the grunge flourish stamp. Grey and silver flower: start off with a green flower, stamp with embossing ink and the grunge flourish stamp. Emboss with clear embossing powder. Spray lightly with Amaretto Memories Mist. Spray with Walnut ink & Perfect Pearls mixture. Die cut a center flower combination in white, cover the center portion and spray with a silver Glimmer Mist.



So now that you've created all the lovely flowers how to use them? I created this layout of our granddaughter (face hidden for privacy) using an entire set of other flowers, some purchased and one die cut, all altered and stamped and inked and sprayed and layered.

What I love about the Walnut ink crystals is that I can mix the combination of crystals and Perfect Pearls up to the strength and color depth that I want to use for any given project. The nice part of the Distress Reinkers or Distress Alchohol Inks is that they don't dilute (get weaker in color) in water.

I use an array of different glue dots to assemble the flowers. From tiny little ones to the thicker dimensional ones, they all have a purpose in layering. If you want a greater dimensional effect use the thick glue dots between layers. If you want a tighter close knit effect, stick with the thinner ones.

So have some fun and Be Creative!

I spy... a spring teaser

Oh me oh my. This is such a tease. I can't help it. This little project that turned into a project of magnanimous proportions isn't "completely" finished yet. Almost but there are some key elements missing. So until I am satisfied, or it has been deemed complete, this is what you get.

I spy Basic Grey paper. I spy a twig fence. I spy a string of silk ribbon flowers. I spy lace leaves. Oooh and to what is the curly, gold wire attached? And why? Mmmm, I'll have to leave you guessing.

Safe to say it's not a scrapbook page, nor a card. Looks 3D to me!

I promise, I'll put some more pictures up, soon.

Be Creative!

QuicKutz club insert back view

Just thought I'd share the back side of the piece before our club meeting. I figure it will help you decide which embellishments you might want to bring.

Cover with DP, run a piece of contrast paper through the QuicKutz small scallop 12" border die and adhere that to the straight portion of the insert. With Ranger's Platinum Liquid Pearls, make tiny dots along the scallop edge of the contrasting DP strip.

The pocket watch and watch in the lower left corner are Spelbinders dies and were used to attach the clear watch face embellishment to the page. Embellishments will vary.

Die cut 2 flower inserts with the QuicKutz Cookie Cutters Flowers shapes. See picture for detail. Layer and adhere these over a Prima flower. Dab a bit of Liquid Pearls in the center of the flower.

The upper right corner features another clear embellishment, or you could stamp a flourish with VersaMark embossing ink and emboss with black Embossing powder. Stick the layered flower on top of the flourish. I found a little bit of a very inexpensive string of opalescent pearls and used a glue dot to stick this under the flower petal.

have fun and above all else - Be Creative!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day.

Other than this blasted cold, my day is perfect! Flowers from the husband, calls from friends and family, right now there is nothing better. And I have my QuicKutz club project finished. That is just icing on the cake.

Here is the project, just waiting for the perfect picture. The lower right flower and the upper green flower were die cut using the new QuicKutz Cookie Cutter Nesting Flowers dies. These are just fabulous! You can layer these on the magnetic plate of the Revolution, which when cut will create amazing flower shapes with petals that can be curled and inked and shaped to give your project so much dimension. The big one got a bit squished in the scanner, but IRL it's alive and popping off the page.

I've also used a product from Ranger called Liquid Pearls to dot the flower in the lower right corner. Instead of glitter, the consistency of this product is a milky, creamy pearl like texture and finish. Simply Yummy. A few additional flowers, some ribbon and brads for flower centers, completes this side of the insert for the 2009 album.

Next week, I'll show the reverse side. So Be Creative!

A 10 minute Valentine! Really.

You won't believe how easily this card comes together. Hard to believe I know, but I made three cards in 30 minutes. I'll say this, it was by the seat of my pants.
1. Using an edge punch (Martha Stewart), punch the edge of one outside edge of the card.
2. Cut a 1" contrasting strip of DP (pink) and adhere to the card inside outer edge. It's what shows under the decorative edge.
3. Trim the corners with a corner rounder. Cut the DP to fit the available area between the decorative edge and the folded edge of the card front.
4. Round the corners on this piece as well. Wrap a pink ribbon around the piece, approx 1/3 up the bottom of the DP. Knot and tie.
5. Adhere the DP to the outside of the card. I stamped a die cut with a Stampendous! love stamp using Weathered Wood Distress ink pad.
6. Stamp a label die cut with "sending you sunshine" stamp by Amuse. Same Weathered Wood Distress ink.
7. Inside the card: Happy Valentine's Day in pink lettering die cut using the QuicKutz Silhouette and Sweetheart digital CD.
Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours!

Ringing in Spring (I wish)

With great joy, I got involved in a swap. Must be I love pressure and deadlines. Or I miss it. Reminds me of my prior life. But I will say it was good. Good for the soul, good for the creative juices and for the first time in years, I was sewing again.

I started with some wool felt that was washed and ironed. I then stamped the felt with a background stamp using Ranger's Distress Ink in Walnut. I just loved the subtlety of the ink on the felt. I used my embroidery software and digitized the little QuicKutz bird so that I could use the embroidery machine to complete the applique and sew the bell together, inserting the hanger ribbon in the process.

The bird's wings are dry brushed with white paint. When they were dry, I swiped glue over the paint and adhered some glitter. I cut a twig off of a tree and added lace leaves and French silk flowers.






The Spring stamp is from Hero Arts and stamped with Adirondack's Cabin Fever stamp pad, die cut and embossed with a Spellbinders rectangle die. Then apply glitter on the edges and adhere to the bell with glue. Add ribbons and a silk flower with a pearl center and your spring ornament is complete.

And because the swap wasn't enough, I thought I'd try the whole process with handmade paper. I wish I could say that I'd made the paper, but alas, no. Purchased somewhere in my travels. However the steps were the same. Albeit a bit more tedious since paper doesn't give as easily as fabric.

One more thing, each little birdie has a Swarowski crystal for an eye. He's so regal. Just what one needs for a spring tree. This little fellow is headed to a friend so that she too can herald spring when it finally arrives!