Artful Haven

Waltzingmouse Blog Party

2012-03-17T12:00:00.007-05:00

Hello everybody! It's been a while since I participated in a Waltzingmouse Blog Waltz/Party. And I just received new stamps from WMS but, boo-hoo, don't have time to play with them before I leave town (I'm queueing up this post in advance), so instead I made a St. Patrick's Day card for my husband, from some of my favorite WMS stamps. I hid the card in the house and will call and tell him where to find it on the 17th. So, here is the card:

It's a pretty simple card. I stamped the shamrock image from Celtic Heritage on the back side of the dark green card stock, then used a craft knife with a fresh blade to cut out the shamrocks. One of the shamrock cutout pieces was treated with lime green and "kaleidoscope" opalescent embossing powder to give it a little kick. It doesn't show very well but the background paper is Bo Bunny Limeade Dots patterned paper, which I enhanced in the cutout areas with a Clear Star gelly roll pen. The sentiment, from Irish Blessings, was stamped in Brilliance Moonlight White. The dark green panel was popped up on pop dots and the corners were rounded. Here is a closeup:

That's all from me--have a wonderful Party!

Cyndie

Edited to add: apologies, folks, but I will be sure to visit your blogs and catch up with comments when I return to town next week. It's just too hard to do with this iPad and shaky wifi, where I am right now!

WMSC88 and CR84FN50

2012-03-12T13:30:00.000-05:00

Hi Gang! This is a very quick card because I'm leaving town in a couple hours and really wanted to do a card before I leave. So this one is for the Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge WMSC88 and for the CR84FN50 Challenge (pink, orange & yellow). Loved that sketch and also the colors, so I tried to distill it down into the simplest elements and here is what resulted:

Minimal stamping, but I like how it turned out. Supplies are as follows:

Stamps: WMS "Say It Loud"

Punch: Martha Stewart flower

Paper: Bo Bunny Mellow Yellow Dot and Passion Fruit Dot

Ink: SU Only Orange craft

Other: orange brads, corner rounder, pop dots.

I really love that polka dot patterned paper (and I know someone else that does, too!) and would love to have it in all colors.

Well, that's it for me today--thanks for stopping by!

Cyndie

Woo-hoo!

2012-03-08T20:24:00.000-06:00

...the Blog Candy has arrived! I'm talking about the box of goodies I won in the drawing on Lisa's (My Paper Tales) website on this post.

You should see all the cute little bundles with tiny stamped labels and color-coordinated wrapping paper--what a fun treat! She even included a sweet little note card! Now, off to make a card...

Cyndie

CR84FN49 and Make It Monday #56: Die Cutting Partial Images

2012-03-07T10:00:00.000-06:00

Well hello there! Today I sat down to create a card for the CR84FN49 color challenge (Yellow, Kraft, Gray) and the PTI Make It Monday challenge #56: Die Cutting Partial Images, as ably demonstrated by Betsy Veldman. It also gave me a chance to use my new stamps--finally used up my Christmas PTI gift certificates and I'm glad I waited for the February release: LOVE the new set Movers & Shakers! I also ordered the houndstooth background as well as Rosie Posie, so I had a fun time playing today. Here is the card:

Sorry the photo is so dark, it was the only way I could get the sparkles to show up. The die I used was from the PTI dies that match Turning A New Leaf; I did the partial cutting so the leaves would spill on either side of the center panel. The flowers are from Rosie Posie, stamped in SU So Saffron and enhanced with Dick Blick alcohol markers as well as Sakura Clear Star glitter pen. The background was created by stamping Background Basics: Houndstooth with Versamark ink on So Saffron card stock then dusting it with PearlEx Sparkle Gold mica powder. The sentiment and the contrast panel are in SU Close To Cocoa. I didn't manage to work any grey into the card so I hope it's okay for the challenge! Just about everything is popped up on different height pop dots.

Thanks so much for looking!

Cyndie

F4A106 and SSS Challenges

2012-03-02T11:12:00.001-06:00

Greetings all! Back today with a card I made for the Splitcoaststampers Friday challenge F4A106 (True Blue Flowers) and the Simon Says Stamps Anything Goes challenge. While SSS encourages you to use My Mind's Eye stamps for this challenge if you have them, I don't have any of these stamps. So instead I used a new Hero Arts/Sizzix stamp/die set ("Floral") I just received from SSS and have been itching to play with:

After stamping the flowers on white cardstock using SU Bashful Blue and YoYo Yellow (markers), I enhanced the shading using Copic markers. The flowers were die cut using the matching dies in the set, then given some dimension using a ball burnisher. The frames were cut with another new acquisition: Quickutz Nesting Frame 3. These are so cool because they include a mat layer to match several sizes of frame. The mat frame here was colored using Tim Holtz Faded Jeans distress ink. The patterned paper is from DCWV's Nana's Kitchen mat stack, and the little blue die cut blooms were cut from SU Bashful Blue using PTI's Bloom Builders 3 die. The sentiment is from SU All Year Cheer I.

Well that's all I have for now, thanks for stopping by!

Cyndie

A Thank You, and CR84FN49 and JAI106

2012-02-29T08:24:00.000-06:00

Holy cow! I seem to have been caught in a Liebster-storm! Thank you everyone for either awarding me or mentioning me on your blog--it is very much appreciated!

I also want to thank JustRite stamps for the prize they sent me (I chose Botanical Butterflies) when I won honorable mention in a recent challenge. I absolutely love the set and have used it to create this card, which uses the colors of CR84FN49 and the sketch of JAI106 (Just Add Ink):

Here are the supplies used for the card:

Stamps: Botanical Butterflies from JustRite

Paper: Canson watercolor paper, kraft colored handmade mulberry paper

Inks: black craft, Tim Holtz distress inks (Antique Linen, Wild Honey, Peeled Paint)

Other: paper flowers and half pearls from Recollections (Michaels brand), grey satin ribbon from SU, yellow fiber from EK Success, Copic markers, clear embossing powder, water spray containing PearlEX pearl powder, dimensionals, Glossy Accents, brown Prismacolor pencil.

The flowers and butterflies were watercolored using the distress inks diluted with the pearlized spray. I tried to capture the pearlized painting with a closeup but it is hard to see:

The patterned paper for the center panel was created using the floral sprig in the stamp set, on watercolor paper. The little paper flowers were twisted a little to give them dimension, and little lines added with brown Prismacolor pencil to help them match the stamped flowers.

That's all for now--thanks for stopping by and have a nice day!

Cyndie

I Am Overwhelmed! The Liebster Blog Award.

2012-02-28T09:23:00.000-06:00

Okay, guys, you are seriously too nice to me. Just a day or two ago my friend Tracey conferred upon me the honor of the Liebster Blog award (more about that below), and before I could even pass it along my friend Suzanne did it again! And as it happens, I first received this award last year from Anna! (My awards are all displayed on a separate page here, although I don't really keep it up to date). Unbelievable! I am so blessed.

Here are suggestions that come with the Liebster Blog award, which as I understand it is intended to encourage and showcase bloggers with less than 200 followers:

--Thank the blogger who presented your award on your blog, and link back to them.
--Show the Liebster Blog badge on your blog (copy/paste from the presenter's blog).
--Present the Liebster Blog award to 5 blogs that have less than 200 followers.
--Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment on their blog.

Now my only problem is, as far as I can tell my very favorite bloggers already have received this award! So I'm going to do something a little different. First, I'll give links to some of my favorite bloggers that have already received the award so you can check out their fabulous work, then I will give you links to some wonderful bloggers that (as far as I can tell) have not received the award, so you can show them some love too!

So, here are some past recipients of the award (in alphabetical order):

Anna, who does absolutely lovely card designs. And her recipes are incredibly drool-worthy!

Cassandra, who has totally mastered the CAS concept. Her beautiful creations featuring intricate cutting have to be seen to be believed!

Lisa, who always has a cute and quirky touch of genius in her cards. Not to mention the ability to combine patterns perfectly (especially polka dots!)!

Suzanne, who has a wonderful design sense--I always wonder why I didn't think of that when I see her cards!

Tracey, who, besides her wonderful color and pattern sense, displays a playfulness in her designs that I wish I could achieve!

Thank you my friends for all your inspiration!

And now for the designers whose work is a little newer to me but I will certainly be following your work and be inspired by it:

Carolanne, who does wonderful paper piecing and is very inventive!

Kelly, who works wonders in three dimensions--check out her valentine card especially!

Michelle, who designs lovely, lovely cards created with a wonderful eye for color.

Susan: Not only a creative paper crafter, but a master seamstress as well!

Missy, who has a way of combining colors and patterns that is just fabulous!

Ladies, please know that you are under no obligation to tag anyone if you'd rather not, but I hope you enjoy checking out these blogs as I did. And Anna, Tracey and Suzanne, thank you for choosing to tag my blog!

Now, of course I can't do a posting without a photo, so here is a card I did a long time ago that I never found an opportunity of posting.

This card was done before I had a good photography set-up, so apologies for the poor quality. As near as I can remember, the bee came from a SU set (In Full Bloom I think) and the DP is from DCWV. The caption at the top was created with JustRite Stampers letters. Spellbinders die cuts and thin yellow ribbon mounted behind the die cut finished off the card.

Thanks for looking, and have a nice day!

Cyndie

Two Challenges

2012-02-25T15:06:00.000-06:00

Greetings all! I'm finally ready to do some challenges (I promised myself that I would not do anything in the craft room until I finished the taxes, so this is my reward). I'm combining two challenges with this card: Play Date Cafe PDCC120 (Baby Blue, Orangesicle, Basil) and PTI's Make It Monday #54 (Glittered Buttons). I especially wanted to try the glittered buttons because I got this cool new material at a local stamp store and just HAD to try it out. It's called Art Parts Clearly For Art Whiteout modeling film--you can heat it to distort it to any shape and it doesn't shrink, just forms the shape and stays that way when cooled. Here is the card I made from it:

The "buttons" were die cut from the Art Parts material using PTI's Buttoned Up #1 die, colored with Copic markers, then heat-distorted with a heat gun, then glittered. It's hard to see the dimension in this straight-on photo, the card actually looks really cool in real life (if I do say so ever so modestly). The rest of the supplies are as follows:

Stamps (all PTI): Turning A New Leaf, Healing Touch Sentiments, Background Basics: Gingham.

Card Stock: White, PTI Spring Moss

Ink: Copics, Memento Tuxedo Black, SU Certainly Celery

Dies (all PTI): Buttoned Up #1, Turning A New Leaf, Edgers #1

Other: green embroidery thread, ultrafine glitter, diluted white glue, Crystal Accents

Well, that's all from me--have a nice day!

Cyndie

I'm Baaaaack!

2012-02-19T11:10:00.000-06:00

Hello friends! The situation is much better and I'm back in town again. Long term is not so great, but for now the family member is out of the hospital and doing fine at home. I just want to thank my friends for their very kind well wishes. Isn't it wonderful that people you have never even met can be so caring, and so nice? It bolsters my faith in the human race. Anyway, thanks everybody, and I will be checking your websites soon to see what I missed!

Cyndie

MIA

2012-02-13T04:39:00.000-06:00

Hello friends-- just a quick update to let you know that I will be missing in action for a while. I am currently out of town attending to a very ill family member and have no access to card making supplies. No interest either, to be honest. I'll be in touch, and thanks for checking in.

Cyndie

Papertrey Ink 5th Anniversary - Day 5

2012-02-09T15:37:00.001-06:00

Hi Folks! Back again with my latest entry to PTI's ongoing 5th anniversary challenges. This time we are to create a project inspired by an item in Pinterest. I'm not a member but it looks like you don't have to be to get inspiration. For my card I chose this woodburned image on Pinterest. My project also features woodburning:

To do this I stamped a frame image from PTI's Mat Stack 2 Collection on a die cut (Spellbinders Petite Ovals) piece of maple wood veneer using SU Creamy Caramel. I wanted the image to be barely visible on the wood so the burning could be seen. Then I carefully burned the image into the wood using a fine point woodburning tool. A closeup of the wood plaque can be seen here:

The rest of the card is pretty straightforware (read: boring!) because I needed to keep it simple as this card is intended for my husband's birthday--he's a wood nut so I think he will appreciate the woodwork in this card. The patterned paper came from DCWV's Nana's Kitchen stack, and the solid card stock is from PTI's variety pack (not sure of the color name). The ribbon came from my vintage stash.

Thanks for looking, and have a nice day!

Cyndie

Papertrey Ink 5th Anniversary Day 4

2012-02-08T14:21:00.000-06:00

Hello everybody! As promised I'm back today (here is my earlier card) with a card for the Papertrey Ink 5th Anniversary Day 4 challenge--a color challenge. I chose Lisa Johnson's favorite palette for my card, although I did substitute a dark brown for the kraft to get more contrast:

I've always loved this PTI set (Wonderfully Whimsical) and I don't use it nearly enough. I stamped the image (SU Chocolate Chip) on a Mat Stack 2 die cut, colored the image with Copic markers, then mounted it on a Mat Stack 2 Layerz die cut (SU Chocolate Chip) that I trimmed with pinking shears in the round area. This was mounted on pop dots then on an Aqua Mist die cut (Spellbinders Pinking Circles Small) which I stamped with phrases from the PTI set Simple Sunflower by mounting them on the acrylic block in a curved shape. The card background (PTI Spring Moss) was stamped in Versamark with the tree from Wonderfully Whimsical, then Chocolate Chip cardstock, Happy Spots patterned paper (for you, Lisa!), and vintage mini rickrack and tiny red buttons were added.

This is not a color palette I would normally have chosen but I really like how it came out. It's good to stretch yourself sometimes.

Thanks for looking!

Cyndie

Make It Monday 52 and ColourQ 123

2012-02-08T07:36:00.000-06:00

Greetings all! For this week's Make It Monday (double-sided stamped die cut) I am stepping outside the box a little bit by making a tag. Also couldn't resist using this gorgeous color combination from this week's ColourQ123 challenge. To dress up the simple tag I also added some dyed silk ribbon and beads--I kinda like how it came out:

(How do you like my prop assistant?) I used PTI's Mat Stack 2 die and stamp collection, as well as the Butterfly Dreams set (stamped then cut out the smallest butterfly). I didn't have the exact challenge colors but I used SU Regal Rose and Groovy Guava (retired). The beads were strung onto 1/8" silk ribbon that had been dyed with Copic marker, and secured with crimp beads onto small jump rings. Here are some additional photos including a view of the flip side:

Closeup

Back side of tag

Closeup of beaded trim

Well, that's all for now but I will definitely be back later today with my entry for PTI's 5th anniversary celebration--be sure to check back!

Cyndie

Papertrey Ink 5th Anniversary Day 2

2012-02-06T12:10:00.000-06:00

Hello friends! We just lost Internet for some reason so I'm updating from my phone--never tried that before so please excuse any errors. So anyway, we are on to Day 2 of PTI's 5th anniversary celebration and the excitement definitely continues. Today we are to make a card using an image from the free download generously provided by Nichole (thank you!). I chose the cute 'Hello' image provided by Maile Belles--I love the graphic simplicity combined with a feel of motion:

No stamping, just that wonderful image printed on laser transparency and colored on the back with Copics. I used Text-Style 2009 Bitty Dot Basics and adhered it to white card stock, die-cut a round hole, and mounted the image behind the hole. Here is a side view so you can see the window:

Then I tacked down some of that wonderful vintage mini ricrac my Mom gave me, and finished off the card with a trio of buttons. Also chomped off the corners. Whew! I hope I get Internet back soon--typing on this tiny screen is the pits (I am NOT a texter!).

That's all for now, thanks for stopping by!

Cyndie

Papertrey Ink 5th Anniversary Day 1

2012-02-05T16:00:00.000-06:00

Greetings folks! The excitement at PTI is well underway with the beginning of their 5th anniversary celebration. Today's prize is so amazing, I just can't imagine what else could be in store! For the contest (in which we are to CASE a favorite project from the Design Team's favorites) I have prepared a couple of cards. I decided to CASE Becky Veldman's card set that focuses on combining sentiments with a theme. Her original post about it is here. I only had time to make these two cards (I am in awe of the productivity of the DT--how they keep turning out so many top-notch projects just amazes me!); supplies for each card are listed under each:

Stamp sets (all PTI): Mat Stack 2 Collection, Quilter's Sampler, Mega Mixed Messages, Autumn Abundance, Vintage Picnic

Paper: white, PTI Happy Spots, SU Tempting Turquoise, SU So Saffron

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, SU markers

Dies: PTI Edgers #2

Stamp Sets (all PTI): Think Big Favorites #5, Mat Stack 2 Collection, Vintage Picnic, Healing Touch Sentiments, Butterfly Dreams

Paper: white, SU Ruby Red, DCWV Citrus stack

Embellishments: vintage mini ricrac (from about 20 colors collected by my grandmother and given to me by my Mom last time I visited--am I lucky or what!?!)

Ink: SU markers, Copic multiliner, Sakura Clear Star gel pen

Dies: Spellbinders Long Scalloped Rectangles, Classic Triple Scallop Edgeabilities

Well, that's all for now--it's gonna be a wild ride, hope I can keep up!

Cyndie

ColourQ #122 For My Valentine

2012-02-03T19:23:00.000-06:00

Hi all! I was inspired by ColourQ's challenge #122 colors (Basic Black, Real Red, Regal Rose, Kraft, White) to get my husband's valentine card done. Perfect time to do it since he's out of town at the moment (back tomorrow though!). I love these colors--I'm a traditional girl at heart (sorry for the pun) when it comes to colors for Valentine's Day. You don't get a chance to go crazy with these colors but once a year. Since I incorporated one of those cool offset banners I learned about on PTI's Make It Monday #51, I'll submit the card for that challenge as well. So, here is my card:

The heart was die cut from kraft card stock using Spellbinders' Hearts dies, and white lace and black beaded trim was adhered around the outside of the cut using Glossy Accents. The inside heart was also die cut, in a larger size, from watercolor paper that had been stamped with a flourish from PTI's Fancy Flourishes using Regal Rose craft ink, then clear-embossed, then sponged with Tim Holtz Barn Door distress ink. The red heart was adhered inside the card behind the die cut on the front. The sentiment panel was designed using a French curve (yeah, one of those old-fashioned templates!) and hand-cut, then stamped with the sentiment from PTI's Mega Mixed Messages. The arrow was die cut from glossy black card stock using the rod die from Spellbinders Charms & Rod set, then one end was trimmed with scissors to an arrow shape.

It was fun to make!

That's all from me today--have a nice day!

Cyndie

Make It Monday #51 and Get Well to Cath

2012-01-31T11:15:00.001-06:00

Hello everybody! I just put together a very quick card for two purposes: MIM #51 (3D sentiment panel) and also a For Cath With Love blog hop, which I just found out about this morning and wanted to do something for. She is suffering from an injury I can sympathize with (rotator cuff tendonitis), as I had the exact same injury two years ago. Cath, if you happen to see this I just want you to know that it WILL get better! I thought the pain would never go away, but through the magic of physical therapy (fortunately I did not need surgery) I did gradually improve and within a couple months was completely pain free (still am!). Better than ever, in fact--I can actually iron clothes now (don't tell my husband, it's been my long-standing excuse for years). Anyway, I do hope you will start feeling much better soon, and here's a card for you:

The card is a pretty close CASE of what Nichole did--I love that card!--and was done using the following supplies:

Stamps (all PTI): Autumn Abundance, Flower Fusion #7, Simple Sunflower, Turning A New Leaf, Background Basics: Gingham.

Card stock: PTI (Stamper's Select white) and SU (Certainly Celery)

Ink: Memento (Tuxedo Black) and SU (Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke, Apricot Appeal, So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie); Tim Holtz (Wild Honey distress ink)

Embellishments: Prima flowers colored with Pumpkin Pie marker; antique buttons from stash.

Well, enjoy the rest of the hop! Feel better soon Cath!

Cyndie

ColourQ 121

2012-01-26T11:09:00.000-06:00

Hi everybody! It's raining here today so I thought I'd seize the opportunity to add another card to my "get well" stash. I wasn't going for visually stunning here, just a nice rainy day greeting.

The colors are from ColourQ 121 challenge: red, olive, mustard, kraft, and white. The mustard accent was added using an old stash of SU patterned paper (gosh, this stuff must be at least 10 years old but it still works!). Leaves are from PTI's Turning A New Leaf stamp set and matching dies (just got them with Christmas GC's--yeah!). The sentiment is from Waltzingmouse's Irish Blessings. The large red flower is a Martha Stewart sticker to which I added a pearl. The tiny flowers came from Michaels' Recollections line (tiny pearls added). The sentiment panel, which is popped up on dots, was punched with a Martha Stewart corner punch. Also used a Spellbinders Labels 4 die on the sentiment panel, trimmed on the sides. I added some tiny dots to the leaves with a gel pen to improve the contrast against the kraft. Pretty simple!

Thanks for looking, and top of the mornin' to you!

Cyndie

Papertrey January Blog Hop Challenge

2012-01-25T07:00:00.003-06:00

Hello fellow hoppers! Today I'm participating in PTI's January Blog Hop Challenge, which is to create a project that is inspired by a favorite previous project. I'm assuming this means a favorite from my own blog, not all possible blogs--hope I understand that right! Anyway, assuming that is the case, here is the project I chose as my favorite (from the PTI May Blog Hop Challenge):

It was a gift box that I made out of die cut craft foam (cutting out frames and stacking them). The lid was made by using a batik method: stamped design on silk with Versamark, clear-embossed, painted in with Copic markers, ironed off the embossing). The silk was backed with quilt batting and surrounded by a frame that was wrapped with dyed seam binding.

So, today's project is quite similar. I made another box, this time covering the sides with craft wood veneer and wood that was die cut with Spellbinders Edgeabilities (Classic Triple Scallop). You can read all about how I made the box on a previous post here. At the time I promised an additional lid for the box, and here it is:

The lid was made in a manner similar to the rose box above. The design (from PTI's Butterfly Dreams) was stamped in Versamark ink onto white silk and clear-embossed. Then colored in with Copic markers, including coloring the blue-green outside of the butterfly. The clear-embossing was ironed off onto kraft paper bags to absorb the embossing, and the body and antennae were stamped with black craft ink and heat-embossed. After backing with a layer of quilt batting, the silk was adhered to a die cut oval (Spellbinders Petite Ovals Small) one size smaller than the box. A die cut frame from the wood was treated with shellac to bring out the beauty of the wood, then adhered to the brown craft foam lid to surround the butterfly. Here's a side view:

It was a fun project--you should give it a try!

Have fun hopping today, and thanks for stopping by--

Cyndie

Make It Monday #50: Shaker Card

2012-01-24T14:59:00.001-06:00

Greetings folks! I happen to need a card for a young friend who is about to undergo open heart surgery (one of many, unfortunately). So I wanted to put together a very cheery card for her and she likes bling, so this one has a bit of it. Also made this for this week's MIM#50: Shaker Cards. I don't think she has seen one of these, so she'll get a kick out of it:

And hey! The colors are pink and yellow so I'll use it for another entry for CR84FN46!

I just happen to have recently received a shipment of goodies from PTI--spent gift certificate money from Christmas!--so I HAD to use the new Mat Stack 2 Collection set I got, as well as the Mat Stack 2 Layerz die to go with the regular one I already had. The shaker card was made as shown in Heather's MIM video and I used pink glitter for the filler. Also used on this card was Text-style 2009 Bitty Dot Basics patterned paper, as well as So Saffron card stock from SU and Spellbinders Labels 21 die. The Layerz die cut is from black card stock, the little hearts were punched from patterned paper, and tiny Jolee's Jewels in light pink were adhered. The Cuttlebug embossing folder used on the die cut was Divine Swirl. The tiny stamped hearts near the sentiment came from PTI's Wonderfully Whimsical set.

I'll have another project tomorrow for PTI's blog hop; I hope you can check back for that!

Have a nice day,

Cyndie

JustRite Friday Challenge 064

2012-01-22T10:00:00.001-06:00

Well folks, I've been working all week on my entry for the JustRite challenge 064, which uses this inspiration photo. I chose the teal and chocolate shades of the photo for my project, which is somewhat of a departure from the Clean & Simple cards I've been making recently.

<drumroll>

Here it is:

And here are some more views of it:

Top of the box

Side of the box

Silk lined inside

It holds my turquoise necklace nicely, doesn't it?

Okay, fair warning: lots of photos follow. You don't have to look unless you want to know how I made it!

First of all, I used the JustRite set Beautiful Day--I just love that bunch of snowdrops; we'll be seeing those soon! Stamped on PTI Stamper's Select white, die cut with Spellbinders Petite Ovals Small, then sealed with Mod Podge.

I coated the top with shiny resin. I used Lisa Pavelka's Magic Glos:

I made the oval box by diecutting frames from craft foam and stacking them on a bottom oval, and gluing them with tacky glue. The lid is made from an oval with a smaller diecut oval glued to it. I later decided to make the lid from brown craft foam to match the wood, so I ended up tossing this one. (Note: if you want to see more of these craft foam boxes I have made, check out my posts here and here, and also my tutorial on Splitcoaststampers here).

The side was covered with a strip of paper-backed wood veneer (see below for a photo of the wood I used). It was glued on with tacky glue and rubber-banded until dry. Not shown is an oval die cut of the same wood to cover the top of the box.

I'm not sure but I think what I used for the sides and top were maple. Then I used a piece of walnut and die cut it using a border strip from my Spellbinders Edgeabilities Classic Triple Scallop. You have to run it through a few times but it does cut. Then I glued the border along the bottom edge of the box, and finished the wooden parts of the box with a coat of clear shellac to bring out the beauty of the wood.

Here is the box, adorned with 1/8" silk ribbon dyed to match the stamped lid with Copic marker.

Next I gathered a ~24" length of seam binding (dyed with Copic marker) by stitching a running stitch along one edge. Didn't feel like getting out the sewing machine so I did it by hand.

And adhered it along the underside edge of the top panel using Scor-Tape.

Made a little silk liner for the box out of the edge of a lightweight white silk scarf (I keep a supply of these from Dharma Trading on hand for craft purposes). Again, too lazy to use the sewing machine--this time I taped it all together with Scor-Tape. That stuff works great!

Added a line of Scor-Tape just below the top edge of the box and adhered the silk liner. I purposely made the liner longer than necessary so it would drape in the bottom of the box in an interesting way.

So, that's it! After adhering the stamped panel to the lid of the box, it was done. Whew!

I'm also working on an alternate lid for the box. Stay tuned!

I hope you enjoyed this longer-than-normal post. Now back to your regularly scheduled crafting!

Cyndie

Moxie Fab Cutting and Trimming Challenge

2012-01-18T19:00:00.000-06:00

Greetings folks! Still trying out new techniques for the Clean And Simple Cards Online Class, and today's technique is mirror stamping. Now, this is something I've not done much of, so I had to scratch my head a bit to come up with something. Here it is:

The daffodil stamp is from PTI's Year Of Flowers Collection set; I stamped it on a thin stiff plastic bag using Memento Tuxedo Black, then quickly pressed the paper onto it to get the image. Then stamped normally on the opposite side of the paper. Then I touched up the reversed one with SU black marker. Not to hard to tell which is the reversed one--I needed a finer marker to do a better job on the touchup. The images were colored in with Copic markers, then a Spellbinders Labels 18 die was traced lightly in pencil around the image and hand-trimmed with pointy scissors. (This is why I can submit it for the Moxie Fab Cutting & Trimming challenge). Adhered with dimensionals to the cardstock covered by patterned paper (Lasting Impressions Lemon Tart Dots). Loops of yellow gingham ribbon were added, and a corner rounder finished off the card. Oh, and the sentiment came from PTI's Simple Sunflower set.

That's all for now, have a nice day!

Cyndie

CR84FN46

2012-01-16T18:33:00.000-06:00

Hello people! Still trying to make Clean & Simple cards for this class I'm taking, and I thought I would also do this week's CR84FN46 challenge (light pink, yellow, neutral). This card is a pretty close CASE of the card Jennifer did in the class, but instead of the pieced paper flower I used a die cut flower with the ends of the petals popped up on dimensionals. And of course the die cut frame and patterned paper and colors and sentiment are different. Maybe it's not that close of a CASE!

I also decided to put the sentiment on the outside instead of the inside of the card.

So, here's the supply list:

Patterned paper: DCWV's Nana's Kitchen stack, and Lasting Impressions Lemon Tart Dots

Dies: Spellbinders Labels 13 and Quickutz Nesting Flowers cookie cutter dies

Ink: SU black, and Sakura opaque Souffle gel pen (pink)

Button: Stampin Up!

Yarn: pink eyelash yarn from EKSuccess Adornments

Stamp: from PTI Autumn Abundance set

Pretty simple, but I like the cheery look it has.

Anyway, have a nice day!

Cyndie

PDCC114 and CleanAndSimple173

2012-01-13T11:16:00.000-06:00

Greetings all! Here I am again, still doing CAS cards by trying to apply techniques learned in Jennifer McGuire's Clean And Simple and Inspiration Showcase classes. This time to enter two challenges: Play Date Cafe's PDCC114, and Clean & Simple Stamping's #173.

Here's how I did it: smooth-toothed watercolor paper was stamped in Versamark with this image from K&Co's Lotus Floral set, then clear-embossed. A few drops of SU reinker (Eggplant Envy, retired) were mixed with water containing PearlEX mica powder, and watercolored onto the paper using a sponge. Tiny clear rhinestones were colored to match the SU Baroque Burgundy card stock (also retired) using alcohol markers, and adhered where the berries are in the image. The sentiment, from Waltzingmouse Say It Loud, was stamped in black craft ink and embossed with gold detail powder. A corner rounder finished the job.

Into my stash it goes!

Have a nice day--
Cyndie

WMSC79 and CR84FN45 and Moxie Fab

2012-01-12T10:12:00.001-06:00

Well folks, I decided to do another card for my brother-in-law's birthday. The thing is, while he is a car nut, I have made so many car themed cards for him that he is probably getting tired of them. So I decided to focus on his other obsession: Sudoku. Also made the card for the WMSC79 and CR84FN45 and Moxie Fab Cool Tools Punches challenges. Here is the card, then I'll tell you how I made it:

First, the Sudoku sheets: the square grid background from Off Beat Backgrounds was used on white paper, and punched out with a 1 1/4" square punch. The extra lines on the edges were "whited out" with a white gel pen. Then I used a Copic multiliner pen to add the numbers (from real Sudoku puzzles). The orange and yellow starred panel was made by punching stars out of the orange strip (SU Only Orange) and inserting punched out yellow (SU Yoyo Yellow) stars. The blue strips are SU Ballet Blue. Sentiment is provided by the Say It Loud set, and I added a brass star to the Sudoku stack. The tiny orange dots were applied using a Sakura opaque gel pen.

I think he'll like it, for variety if for no other reason.

See ya!
Cyndie

Less Is More and Clean And Simple

2012-01-09T13:31:00.000-06:00

Hello All! Finally over my sniffles and ready to get back into the groove. Great timing, too, as today is Day 1 of the Clean And Simple Online Card Class offered by Jennifer McGuire and company. I loved the previous class I took (Inspiration Showcase) and knew this one would be good too. First, here is the card I made today:

I decided to make my card to submit for a couple of challenges: Less Is More #49 (Predominantly Purple), and Clean&Simple Stamping #172 (sketch challenge). The parts of my card that I based on the class were the use of masking with a background stamp (I die cut the scalloped rectangle from masking paper using Spellbinders Long Scalloped Rectangles, then stamped SU's Paisley background stamp in SU Orchid Opulence craft ink over it); and also the monochromatic color scheme. I used a matching marker to outline the die cut before removing the mask. The central motif was die cut (Spellbinders Floral Doily Accent) from SU Orchid Opulence card stock, and touched up with white gel pen and popped up on a dimensional. Just happened to have some vintage seam binding in the right color, and added some white satin ribbon as well. The sentiment is from PTI's Autumn Abundance set.

Really looking forward to the rest of the class as I struggle with this card style and yet really prefer it to the sometimes overdressed card style.

Thanks for looking, and have a nice day!

Cyndie

Make It Monday #47: A La Carte

2012-01-04T14:02:00.000-06:00

Hi everybody! I learned something yesterday: not to make cards when I am sick. I was in the worst stages of a raging cold but wanted to make a MIM card anyway. I will spare you a photo of the one I made, and show the one I made today instead:

It may not be a prize-winner either, but trust me, it's far better than yesterday's. I won't inflict that one on you, as I subscribe to the advice a photography instructor told me once: the secret to being considered an awesome photographer is to only show your very best photos and ditch all the others (okay, maybe I don't always follow this advice 100%, but still).

This card was done with the MIM #11 (embossing with dies) in mind. The car image was embossed into the white card stock and flipped over so the car shape sticks up instead of down. With the car die still behind the paper to support it, the image of the car was stamped on the embossing. A little smoke/fumes was added in grey ink. Sets used were Enjoy The Ride and Fancy Flourishes. A little white embossing, some ribbon, and black jewels finished it off. I'll use the card for my brother-in-law who is a car nut.

Thad's id for dow, have a dice day... >honk<

Cyndie

Mojo Monday 222

2012-01-02T11:39:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year everybody! I'm starting off the year with a Mojo Monday card that uses this sketch. I also dusted off some retired Stampin Up sets that I will always love: Baroque Motifs and Tropical Blossoms, as well as Sincere Salutations.

For the "patterned paper" I used a technique I learned from Jennifer McGuire's Inspiration Showcase class: stamped with Distress Ink (Wild Honey) on glossy white card stock, added clear embossing powder, embossed, then inked with SU Night Of Navy ink. The yellow card stock is SU Summer Sun and the blue came from my stash (not sure of the source). Other items used were: Spellbinders Lacey Circles, PTI buttons die, a tiny yellow button, white looped lace, an SU oval punch, corner rounder, and orange adhesive rhinestones.

I wish all good things for everyone in the New Year,

Cyndie

Papertrey December Blog Hop Challenge

2011-12-26T07:00:00.000-06:00

Greetings, all! I hope you had a very enjoyable holiday--we did. And now I can show the Christmas card I made for my husband since he has seen it by now:

The theme of this month's Blog Hop challenge was "Holiday Leftovers." So I used leftover gold foil wrapping paper and red ribbon that I used to wrap my gifts (see photo below) to weave a checkerboard-patterned background for my card.

Here's the wrapped gifts.

The checkerboard middle layer.

I blurred the handwritten message inside (it's private!).

I don't own any Christmas PTI sets but I used the poinsettia image in Year Of Flowers: Collection, colored with Copic markers, as an accent to the card. The sentiment was computer-printed on velum and mounted behind a Spellbinders Labels 13 die cut.

Have a wonderful holiday and enjoy the rest of the hop!

Cyndie

Christmas Card From DH

2011-12-25T20:52:00.000-06:00

Mweey CXhe (oops--fingers on wrong keys!)-- I meant, "Merry Christmas, all!"

I just had to show the card my husband made for me for Christmas (mine to him will be shown on tomorrow's PTI blog hop). First, you need to know that he is not a stamper, he just really likes saving money on cards. So for all appropriate occasions he shuts himself up in my stamping space and cranks out a (usually very simple) card. This time, I made him promise not to do another single color, single layer card. This is what he came up with:

The front of the card is kind of a pop-up style card, with cut out layers revealing the image below. Pretty clever, no? Here's some more photos of the layers:

For the holly image he colored on the stamp with my SU markers--one of his favorite techniques.

I gave him a gold star for this effort--definitely a keeper!

See you tomorrow!

Cyndie

Make It Monday #46: Die Into Folded Tag

2011-12-21T17:00:00.000-06:00

Hi All! It's a busy week but I did want to do this challenge, so whipped up a quickie tag. Fortunately the method demonstrated by Erin Lincoln on this week's Make It Monday lends itself to quick ones! Here's mine (modeled by my homemade Santas):

I used the Mat Stack 2 die and PTI's Background Basics: Gingham for the tag. Ink was Tim Holtz Barn Door Distress ink (also inked around edges of tag). The snowflake in the center was built up from two die cuts (MFT snowflakes): one from red craft foam, the other from white card stock, run through the Xyron and steeped in glitter, then adhered to the foam. A button with silk ribbon, a punched hole, and baker's twine finish it off. Here's a closeup:

I like how it came out--very festive!

Now about those Santas, here's the story: A few years ago my sister made a bunch of these for gifts, having gotten the instructions from a tv show or magazine (never did find out which or where). We all LOVED them and wanted to make our own. So she got a couple of us together with some friends and we did a session of Santa-making (I believe it was in September of 2006). The materials are just commercial paper mache mix, heavy cardstock or bristol board, staples, and acrylic paint. At the time I thought it would be good to document the process so I took some photos, and here they are (not all the Santas in the following photos were done by me but I couldn't tell you which was which):

Aren't they cute? We had a blast. If you want to try it, be sure to let the paper-mache'd Santas dry thoroughly (overnight is best) before painting them.

That's all for now--have a Merry Christmas!

Cyndie

Case Study and Waltzingmouse Challenges

2011-12-17T12:05:00.000-06:00

Hello everybody! I needed a wedding congratulations card today, so I thought I would do a couple challenges at the same time. I'm hoping this card meets the qualifications for this week's Waltzingmouse Sketch challenge #78 as well as the CASE study challenge #70. The two images are vaguely similar due to the radiating points of the star, so that's the common ground I chose:

Here's the details:

Waltzingmouse sets used: Delightful Doilies 2 small, Pic-Nic Patterns, Say It Loud.

Ink: SU Going Gray and Black

Paper: SU Pixie Pink, SU patterned paper, DCWV gray linen adhesive card stock.

Ribbon: SU gray satin; bright pink mini ric-rac.

Tools: Spellbinders dies (hearts, circle); small heart punch; hotfix Jolee's Jewels (Fuchsia),

Cuttlebug embossing folder (Damask).

It doesn't show very well but the heart is folded up a little (like a butterfly) and only adhered down the center line.

That's all I have right now--have a nice day!

Cyndie

Some Christmas Items

2011-12-15T17:39:00.001-06:00

This is my second post of the day--for my first, please check out this link.

Hello folks! Here are a few things I've been working on--none of them qualify for challenges I'm afraid, but sometimes you need to just let the creative juices flow and crank out some things.

First of all are the little treats we give to some people we play music with:

I made six of these. There are three bags of goodies (one sweet, one salty, and one candy) tied into the basket with red ribbon. The sweet treat was homemade shortbread cookies using Claire Brennan's recipe. The salty was homemade snacks made from oyster crackers and powdered Ranch dressing mix plus a few other things. There are many versions of this recipe out there--the one I used is similar to this one. The only stamping I did was some Inkadinkadoo snowflakes on the gold foil gift cards, using Stazon red. I thought they matched the snowflake bags nicely.

Then I just finished making about 30 bulk Christmas cards (kinda late, I know, but they just need to arrive before Christmas):

When I do bulk cards, I must confess that I have a budget in mind, so there is minimal use of layers and expensive card stock. I just ran the white card stock through the Cuttlebug using a snowflakes embossing folder (hard to see, but it has been enhanced here and there with a glitter pen), I cut out the poinsettias (PTI's Year Of Flowers - Collection) and colored with Copic markers plus Sakura Souffle gel pens, and the main focus of the card is the beautiful sentiment stamp from Verses (I have no idea where I got this stamp, but I've had it awhile). After trimming the sentiment and treating the edges with Tim Holtz distress ink (Barn Door), they were backed by very thin strips of red zigzag card stock. Oh, and parts of the sentiment were colored with Copics. Pretty simple but hopefully still nice.

That's all for now, have a nice day!

Cyndie

Play Date Cafe PDCC111

2011-12-15T15:57:00.000-06:00

Hello fellow Earthlings! I have a need for another thank you card (for the free Spellbinders Labels 18 that I received as a result of winning honorable mention on JustRite's Friday Challenge #063--Thank You JustRite!!!). So I decided to use the new die with JustRite stamps and the color theme from Play Date Cafe's challenge PDCC111 for this card:

The JustRite sets used were Vintage Oval Labels and Cardmaking Kit ("Thank You"). For the edges of the card I used The Paper Studio adhesive-backed polka dot ribbon (just for you, Lisa :)) which was trimmed to mitered corners, and the mats were cut using Spellbinders Labels 13, Labels 18, and Classic Ovals--Large. There are zircon-colored Jolee's Jewels attached in the corners, and the teal card stock and ink is from Stampin Up (Taken With Teal).

Thanks again JustRite! I really appreciate your generosity!

Cyndie

Make It Monday #45: Coloring Embossing With Copics

2011-12-12T11:13:00.000-06:00

Hi Folks! Yes it's Make It Monday time again (coloring embossed stamping with Copics) and I do have an entry. Decided to do a very delicate image (mums from Year Of Flowers: Collection), but I'm not entirely happy with it:

I ended up shading within the embossing as well (since I had a few bloopers to cover up!). Then there is a tiny bit of glitter in the centers of the flowers. I guess what I'm not happy with is the rest of the card--the layout or something; can't put my finger on it but don't know how to fix it. Oh, well--they can't all be Mona Lisas!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a nice day!

Cyndie

Make It Monday #44 Glitter Masking

2011-12-06T11:38:00.000-06:00

Hi Folks! Here's another get well card for my stash, this time prepared for the PTI Make It Monday challenge #44 (glitter masking). Since just about the only glitter in my craft hoard is a set of Halloween colors (black, purple, orange, yellow, lime green) that I got on sale after the holiday, this was really going to be a challenge! Here is what I came up with:

The mask for the sun image was die cut using the Bloom Builders #3 die. After masking, the glitters for the sky portion were applied in a layering fashion. Then the "sun" mask was peeled off and the yellow glitter was applied. Finally a straight mask along the bottom was peeled off and the green glitter was applied. The background (SU's So Saffron card stock) was stamped in Versamark ink using Fancy Flourishes, and the sentiment, from Healing Touch Sentiments, was stamped in black and clear-embossed on vellum. Two lime green jewels were added.

That was fun! I'll have to remember this technique and try it again sometime.

Have a nice day,

Cyndie

Make It Monday #43, on Friday

2011-12-02T20:00:00.000-06:00

Well, here I am as usual, running late on Make it Monday. Still, a late entry is better than none at all, right? So, I needed a birthday card, and this week's Make it Monday is about pleated ribbon. Here's how I used it:

This card is a little different from my usual standard A2 card. I decided to do a Double Z fold card as ably demonstrated by Beate Johns in this tutorial. The stamp sets used were PTI's Year Of Flowers: Collection (sweet pea image), and Birthday Basics (inside greetings). The image was colored with Copic markers, die cut with Spellbinders' Petite Oval, and matted with Petite Scalloped Oval. The patterned paper is PTI's Text Style 2009 Bitty Dot Basics, which was punched with Spellbinders' Classic Triple Scallop Edgeabilities. The background cardstock is a retired SU one, Vintage Violet. The white seam binding was ruched along a strip of Scor-Tape adhered to a white strip of paper. They are hard to see, but there are tiny pearls nestled in the ruching. A purple button from my stash finished it off. And here's the inside:

And that's all for now--thanks for looking and have a nice day!

Cyndie

PTI November Blog Hop

2011-11-25T07:00:00.001-06:00

Greetings, folks--and Happy Thanksgiving to all in the US! This month's PTI blog hop subject is to create a project inspired by this photo. I chose the colors, the gingham, and the flowers as my inspiration to create these gift tags:

They look quite large in this closeup photo but in fact each tag is only about three inches long. I used three PIT sets: Year Of Flowers Collection (poinsettia image), Vintage Picnic (sentiment) and Background Basics: Gingham. The flowers were stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black and cut out, then colored with Copic markers. The yellow centers were applied with a yellow Sakura Souffle gel pen (it dries opaque). The tags were die cut using a Mat Stack 2 die, stamped in SU Ruby Red with Gingham, and stamped with the sentiment in black. The green at the top is Tim Holtz Peeled Paint distress stain applied with a sponge distress tool. The flowers are popped up on pop dots.

I think they came out kinda cute...

Have a wonderful day hopping!

Cyndie

JustRite Challenge #063: Christmas

2011-11-22T14:22:00.000-06:00

Greetings all! Turns out I had another one of those Blue Bunny ice cream containers, and I used it to fill with my favorite Christmas treat: nut crunch (from the Joy of Cooking cookbook). I decorated the tub for Christmas since it's for a gift, and that qualifies for the JustRite #063 challenge.

Actually the challenge was for a Christmas card or tag, so I made the free-hanging tag for this gift as the focal point. The tub was covered with white card stock that had been run through repeatedly with the Snowflakes Cuttlebug embossing folder. Stamps were from the JustRite set Merry & Bright. After stamping, the pieces were hand-trimmed and colored with Copic markers. The sentiment was stamped on a round die cut which was shaded with Tim Holtz Antique Linen distress ink, then popped up on a pop dot. The seam binding was dyed to match.

I forgot to take a photo of the nut crunch inside but there really is some in there (of course, not every bit of the batch made its way into the bin). Here's a closeup of the tag. It's hard to see the glitter and gold paint--it looks much nicer in person!

That's all for now--thanks for looking and have a nice day!

Cyndie

Waltzingmouse Sketch #74 Challenge

2011-11-21T14:47:00.001-06:00

Hello all! It's been a while since I participated in this challenge. Here's a project I wanted to do that was just crying out for the Sewing Box Christmas set, so I used it for the sketch challenge.

Recognize this container? It is a repurposed Blue Bunny 1.75 qt ice cream tub! It was such a cool shape I couldn't throw it away. It's been covered in white card stock that was run through an embossing folder (Cuttlebug Swiss Dot) multiple times to get complete coverage. The holly leaves and berries were paper pieced from DCWV and K & Co. patterned paper, and the sentiment was curved on the acrylic block and stamped on a Spellbinders Floral Doily die cut. The die cut behind it is Lacy Circles. The seam binding was dyed to match, and mini ric-rac was added.

Now, the contents can also be attributed to Waltzingmouse, specifically the recipe for the homemade shortbread that is packed inside. The recipe was developed by Claire Brennan of Waltzingmouse. You have GOT to try this recipe--genius! It's a wonder there was enough to put in the tub.

That's all for now, thanks for looking!

Cyndie

Play Date Cafe PDCC108

2011-11-20T10:46:00.000-06:00

Greetings! Today I'm participating in Play Date Cafe's challenge PDCC108, which is to use the colors of this photo for inspiration. For my project I've made a little treat to place on the pillow of a house I'm visiting, for the hostess to discover after I leave.

It's a matchbook-style treat holder cut from SU Bravo Burgundy, and inside I've stapled a "fun-size" package of M&Ms. The stamp I used is from a retired Stampin Up set called Illuminations--love that calligraphic ornamentation. It was stamped on Creamy Caramel card stock, stamped in copper craft ink, and embossed with copper embossing powder. I added die cuts of retired Stampin Up copper patterned vellum and copper card stock using Spellbinders Labels Four and Floral Doily Accents. Combined with the ornate sentiment, I think they give the package a Byzantine look.

Well, that's it for now, thanks for looking!

Cyndie

Quick Note

2011-11-13T21:20:00.000-06:00

Hi Gang!

Just a quick note to point out that you can see my tutorial on making the craft foam boxes like the one below, today on Splitcoaststampers! It's part of their Holiday Tutorial Blitz!

I hope you enjoy it,

Cyndie

JustRite 062 and CR84FN42 and Thanks!

2011-11-12T21:15:00.000-06:00

Hello folks! Although I prepared this card according to the requirements for two challenges (JustRite 062--give thanks; and CR84FN42---pink, black, and neutral), my main reason for making this card was to give thanks to Spellbinders for sending me this fabulous set of Edgeabilities dies (Classic Triple Scallop) which I won in a random drawing during their Get The Knowledge event with guest blogger Becca Feeken. Woo-hoo! I just feel SO lucky!

I know this photo is a little dark but it was the only way I could get the glitter to show up.

I used the new Edgeabilities dies to cut the border and the triple scallop in the black card stock, then placed a strip of SU Very Vanilla card stock behind just the scallops. The black card stock was then stamped with JustRite's oval label design from Vintage Oval Labels with black craft ink, then clear embossed. Inside the embossed design I painted bleach with a very fine paintbrush, which turned the black to a cream color. Then I used a Sakura Gelly Roll Clear Star pen to add glitter to the bleached areas as well as the scallops. The black card stock was mounted on a sheet of K & Co pink patterned paper, on a Very Vanilla card base. The same patterned paper was adhered to card stock then cut with two dies from Spellbinders' Labels Six set, then mounted on pop dots. The sentiment, from JustRite's Fancy Frames set, was stamped on Very Vanilla, die cut with a Petite Ovals Small die, and mounted on pop dots. Finally, a bow in cream seam binding was added.

Now, the terms of the JustRite challenge are that the card must be sent to the intended recipient, so my plan is to mail this to the Spellbinders home offices in Phoenix to thank them for their generosity.

Hope you enjoyed it--have a nice day!

Cyndie

Make It Monday 39 and Play Date Cafe

2011-11-06T06:29:00.000-06:00

Greetings, all! Didn't want another Make It Monday to get away without an entry, so here's mine for this week (multi-stamp background building), using the colors of Play Date Cafe PDCC106 (pink, yellow, gray):

Judging from the size of the link lists, these are popular challenges this week. For this card I used the Butterfly Dreams as well as Flower Fusion #7 sets from Papertrey Ink. Ink (So Saffron, Regal Rose, Going Grey, Black) and cardstock (So Saffron, Going Grey) from Stampin Up were used. Dies from Spellbinders (Labels 13) and PTI (Mat Stack 2) were used to cut the panel, frame, and vellum window. The flower is from Prima, originally white and colored with Regal Rose and So Saffron markers.

This was a fun one! Thanks for looking.

Cyndie

Tuesday Trigger Like A Handbag!

2011-11-03T21:30:00.001-05:00

Hi Everybody! So, I got this catalog in the mail today from a company I've never heard of: Fossil. They had some pretty cool stuff in there, and what really caught my eye was this handbag:

Of course you know where I am going with this. It just cries out for a paper pieced card. On top of that the colors remind me of a recent Tuesday Trigger (from October 25, too late for the contest but I made the card anyway):

So, drum roll please, here's the card:

Almost no stamping--just piecing of strips of card stock, mostly from the DCWV stack Safari Chic, along with a strip of PTI's Melon Berry. Each strip was outlined by hand with a Copic Multiliner. The "metal" plate was created by cutting an oval out of card stock, punching a hole, and cutting the rest of the keyhole with a craft knife. Then it was embossed multiple times with silver embossing powder until the finish was smooth. The brads were also embossed so they would match. The sentiment, from Waltzingmouse's Say It Loud set, was curved on the acrylic block before stamping with black Stazon ink. I think this will make a pretty good masculine get well card.

Thanks for looking!

Cyndie

Color Throwdown #165

2011-10-29T20:37:00.000-05:00

Greetings, all! I needed another sympathy card, and so I thought I would use the colors of Color Throwdown #165 challenge, since I had some patterned paper that was pretty close. Here's the card:

The patterned paper came from DCWV's Cafe Mediterranean stack (love that one!). It is matted on a piece of SU Bayou Blue card stock. The butterfly, from PTI's Butterfly Dreams, was stamped on a butterfly die cut from watercolor paper using the PTI matching die. Ink used was SU Brocade Blue craft, which was clear-embossed, then the internal sections were hand-painted with PearlEx interference gold (the photo didn't pick up the beautiful shimmer, too bad) and the perimeter was inked with a Copic marker. The mum was die cut from matching paper from the same DCWV stack using PTI's Bloom Builders #3 die. The sentiment is from a retired PSX stamp, stamped on a Spellbinders Labels 13 die cut from SU Barely Banana. The embossed edge was treated to a few dots using an SU Brocade Blue marker. Pearls colored pale yellow with a Copic marker finished the card.

Hope you enjoy it, thanks for looking!

Cyndie

Make It Monday #38 and CR84FN41

2011-10-28T18:29:00.000-05:00

Greetings everyone! Turns out I need a sympathy card for the stepfather of a relative, so I decided to use one of the lovely sentiments in PTI's Healing Touch Sentiments set. This card was also done for the Make it Monday #38 (brayer and impression plate technique) and CR84FN41 (steel blue, gray, and yellow) challenges:

The sentiment (stamped in SU Bordering Blue) was a two-line one, so I had to ink each phrase separately so it would fit in a vertical format. Regarding the background: I don't happen to own any impression plates, so I made do instead with the butterfly die that goes with the Butterfly Dreams set (used for the small and large butterflies). I used a rubber sheet to impress the edge of the die without cutting through the card stock--worked great! Then brayered with SU YoYo Yellow in a gradient that fades toward the right. The sentiment panel was cut with Spellbinders Labels One then trimmed on both sides. A strip of gray ribbon finished it off.

Thanks for looking, and have a nice evening!

Cyndie

iCopic and Mojo Monday Challenges

2011-10-26T20:54:00.000-05:00

Hello everybody! Finally got some time to whip up a card, and I decided to do two challenges: iCopic #53 (orange and black), and Mojo Monday sketch challenge #212. Here's my entry:

The sketch I followed is this one:

I turned the main image on its side since it was horizontally oriented. This image is from a retired (in fact the whole stamp company is retired) PSX stamp that I've had for years. Haven't tried to color it until I recently acquired some Copic skills. The rest of the card stats are as follows:

Sentiment: from PTI Healing Touch Sentiments

Background and stamped buttons: PTI Background Basics: Gingham

Buttons were punched from PTI coasters using PTI buttons die

Tag was punched from white card stock using PTI Postage die

Background black card stock was punched using Fiskars scalloped border punch

Background card stock and ink for gingham: SU Pumpkin Pie

Paper flower colored with Pumpkin Pie is from Prima.

I used the following Copic markers to color the main image:

This card goes into my stash of get-well cards (I need about one per week, so it's hard to keep up).

Thanks for looking, and have a nice day!

Cyndie

Make It Monday #37 Layered Mats and Frames

2011-10-19T09:38:00.000-05:00

Greetings, all! I just happen to need an anniversary card this week, so I thought I would use PTI's Make It Monday #37 (Layered Mats and Frames) challenge for inspiration:

This card is fairly CAS, which I really prefer over other styles but is very challenging to do well. At least for me. The PTI dies used were Mat Stack 2 and Postage, and they were cut out of Text-Style Bitty Dot Basics patterned paper, as well as PTI's Stamper's Select white. The stamps were all from the Wonderfully Whimsical set, and were stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored with Copic markers. The patterned paper at the top is from DCWV.

I was trying to go for an image of the little bird blowing heart bubbles at the tree, where they grow into heart balloons.

Like?

Anyway, thanks for looking and have a nice day!

Cyndie

Make It Monday #36 Take Two

2011-10-16T17:35:00.000-05:00

Okay, I don't usually do two cards for Make It Monday, but while working on the other one (posted a short while ago), I got this idea and had to try it:

The flowers were die cut from watercolor paper, then the stamps (Simple Sunflower) were colored on the stamp with SU markers in several colors, then stamped on the die cuts. Then each image was watercolored with a brush pen containing water. After drying, they were layered with pop dots. The sentiment was stamped on a die cut (Mat Stack 2) and distressed on the edges with Tim Holtz antique linen. The patterned paper is Text Style Happy Spots, and the solid card stock is SU Close To Cocoa, with stitching added with white gel pen.

Thanks for looking, and have a nice day!

Cyndie

Make It Monday #36: Faux Watercoloring

2011-10-16T17:24:00.000-05:00

Greetings! I couldn't let yet another Make It Monday go by without making a card for it. This week's challenge is to do faux watercoloring, by using a blender to watercolor the stamped image. Here's mine:

It's a very simple card. The image, from Year Of Flowers Collection, was colored on the stamp with SU markers in several colors, then stamped on watercolor paper. Then a brush blender containing water was used to brush through the colors and blend them. I added a little rust colored glitter to the centers after the image dried. The image was die cut using Spellbinders Labels One. Then a slice of patterned paper (PTI Text-Style 2009 Bitty Dot Basics) was placed on a background of Spring Rain stamped with the sentiment from Healing Touch Sentiments, a mat hand cut from handmade mulberry paper using the die as a template was added, and the final touch was the addition of a few amber crystals.

Thanks for checking it out!

Cyndie

More Treats

2011-10-13T19:50:00.000-05:00

Hi all! I decided to add a few more treats to the ones I made in my previous post, since I had some leftover M&M's and was in grave danger (pardon the pun) of eating the rest of them myself.

This time I put the candy in these long skinny bags that I got last year from Clearbags.com. For each bag a 1" circle was punched out of black card stock, run through the Xyron, and covered in either yellow or green glitter, then stapled on the top edge of the bag. The bats were cut out of black card stock, run through the Xyron, and covered in black flocking, then glued on with Crystal Effects. Here is a closeup:

I'll send them along with the cat eye card and the treat jars that I made a couple days ago. I have GOT to get them safely out of the house before it's too late!

Thanks for looking!

Cyndie

Spooky Treats

2011-10-11T10:56:00.000-05:00

Greetings, all! I wanted to make some spooky treats to send to my parents for Halloween--they both have a sweet tooth--so I pulled my goodies together and this is what came out:

Here's how I did the card:

Traced cat eyes from a magazine and made a cutting file out of it for my vinyl cutter.
Cut the eyes out of glossy black vinyl, and weeded out the eye parts, leaving the black still on the backing sheet.
Colored the back side of the backing with yellow Copic marker, and the front side of the highlights with white opaque ink.
Adhered to white card that had two ovals punched out behind the eyes so I could shine light through.
Die cut (Spellbinders Fancy Labels) label from black card stock, ran through Xyron to apply adhesive, then tapped yellow and green glitter (Martha Stewart) over the label.
Printed the quote (from James Whitcomb Riley's poem "Little Orphint Annie") on my computer, onto white card stock. Die cut (Spellbinders Petite Ovals) then distressed with Tim Holtz Wild Honey distress ink. Adhered to label with pop dots, then label to card.

Inside the card is a copy of the whole poem. Below is a photo of the card with light shining through the back. I figure that a battery-operated votive candle can be placed behind the front of the card for a spooky shelf ornament.

Here's how I did the jars:

Filled small jars (Hobby Lobby) with either plain or peanut M&M's in fall colors.
Made a circle template, adhered to back side of black velvet, and hand cut the velvet.
Strung beads onto stretchy cord, tied off, and used the beaded "bracelet" to hold the velvet onto the top of the jar.
Die cut two sizes of black pinked circles (Spellbinders Pinked Circles) from black card stock.
Stamped skeleton (retired PSX design) in the center of the smaller circle, distressed the edges with orange craft ink, and adhered to orange and black ribbon.
Ran larger circle through Xyron to apply adhesive, applied yellow and green glitter, then adhered the skeleton motif on top.
Adhered the ribbon ends to the bottom of the jar.

Here's a photo of the top of the jar:

They came out pretty cute, I think! Anyway, Mom and Dad will like them. I plan to enter these into the Secret Crafter #155 Challenge (Anything Goes As Long As It Sparkles) as well as the Fussy And Fancy Friday Challenge (Fall or Halloween). Thanks for looking!

Cyndie

Thank You JustRite with Mojo Monday 209 and JustRite 059

2011-10-04T16:06:00.000-05:00

Greetings all! I have been so fortunate as to win another honorable mention from JustRite's challenge #58 for my shoe ornaments. Thank you, thank you, thank you JustRite! For my project I won a die from their online store, and I chose Spellbinders Lacey Circles. This card is a thank you card to JustRite for their generosity.

For this card I used the sketch from Mojo Monday 209 as a guide.

The yellow-gold patterned paper on this card was created from glossy card stock using the "kissing" technique: the JustRite Applique stamp was inked in SU Cranberry Crisp (retired) then stamped on a retired SU foliage background stamp (don't know the name) which had been inked in Versamark. This was repeated all over the background, then the background stamp was stamped on glossy card stock, heat set, then inked with Tim Holtz Wild Honey distress ink. The sentiment (JustRite Cardmaking Kit) was stamped in black ink on vanilla card stock, cut with Spellbinders Classic Circles, and distressed with Wild Honey ink. The maple leaves were punched out (punch source unknown) from leftover custom patterned paper, and distressed with Holtz's Peeled Paint distress stain. Copper colored glass beads were glued on, and the round panel was adhered to a dark brown panel cut from craft foam using Lacey Circles. The "ribbon" and the "lace" on the right-hand side were also cut from craft foam. A scalloped border punch was used on the patterned paper, and a panel of SU Cranberry Crisp card stock was sandwiched in. The bottom layer is a panel from DCWV's Safari Chic patterned paper stack.

Overall, I'm thinking this is a masculine styled card so I'll probably use it for that. Since the colors are very Autumnal, I'll also submit it for JustRite's 059 challenge ("Fall Festival"). Thanks again to Kelly Fortin and the rest of the design team at JustRite who chose my project!

Have a nice day!

Cyndie

Make It Monday #34: Thick Chipboard Accents and CR84FN39

2011-09-30T10:30:00.000-05:00

Greetings all! Gosh, I'm getting a late start on Make It Monday aren't I? Better late than not at all, though! This week's challenge is to make multi-layer chipboard accents from dies. Also, the CR84FN challenge this week (number 39) is to use the colors orange, yellow, and brown.

Here is my contribution:

What IS this thing, you ask? It's a car air freshener! A nice little gift you can make and slip into a card for a little surprise! Because of the asymmetry of the die shape, I had to do a little cheating to get the stamping on the backside: I used the "kissing" technique. Here's how I did it:

Die cut two full sets of the larger sunflower, center and leaf from PTI's blank coasters using the larger Simple Sunflower die.
Color on the larger Simple Sunflower petal stamp using Stampin Up markers (colors: Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip).
Spritz with a little pearlized water (ala Jennifer McGuire's class--see, I DID learn something!).
Stamp on the back of a larger stamp that has a smooth surface (I used YOF: Roses--that is one really big flower!).
Take one of the die cuts and carefully place the back side of it on the stamped surface to transfer the ink.
Stamp the front side of the other die cut in the usual way.
Enhance the color on both die cuts by watercoloring with pearlized water and ink from the markers, using a craft sheet as a palette.
Color the leaf and flower centers in the normal way. These pieces were close enough to symmetrical that I didn't need to do the kissing technique.
Assemble everything with the leaves sandwiched in the middle, glue, and add a spritz of cologne, punch a hole, add a chain and you're done!

Here's a photo of the back side:

And here it is hanging from the car's mirror. I used a ball chain so it could be easily unlinked then relinked around the mirror.

Well, that's it from me--have a nice day!

Cyndie

It's In The Cards

2011-09-29T16:01:00.000-05:00

Hello friends! I have a simple card today for two challenges: the Less Is More sketch challenge, and the Moxie Fab World Card Play challenge. Here is the card:

I have had these super-cute mini cards in my stash for years, waiting for the perfect use for them, and here it is! I chose cards that would qualify as a poor poker hand. This particular card is intended for someone who is a fan of Jack London, and has certainly been dealt a poor hand lately. The sentiment was found on the internet on a quotation website; I typeset it on the computer and printed it on white card stock. The gingham background is PTI's Background Basics: Gingham. Ink is SU Real Red. A corner chomper was used to round the corners of the card to look like a big playing card.

Thanks for looking, and have a nice day!

Cyndie

Inspiration Showcase Row 5 and Final Panel

2011-09-28T14:50:00.000-05:00

Greetings, friends! Today I finally have the final row of the Inspiration Showcase panel, as well as the completed panel with the mounted hearts. First, the fifth row:

I have to confess that this one is my least favorite row. I think it's because I have used too many different patterns next to each other. Viewed individually the hearts are okay, but lined up next to each other they clash. Oh, well. I hope on the whole canvas there is enough going on to distract the viewer from this! The individual hearts:

Heart 21: Pigment Pearl + Embossed Embellishments, stamps from PTI and unknown (text stamp), button die from PTI, ink from Stampin Up and Tim Holtz (distress), mica powder from PearlEX.

Heart 22: Distress Stickles + Pearl Painting, stamp from K & Co., punch from Martha Stewart, ink from Tim Holtz (distress) and Stampin Up, center heart is Mylar confetti embellished with Glossy Accents. I didn't have Stickles so I used a sparkly embossing powder ("Kaleidoscope") on the background of the large heart.

Heart 23: Glossy Accents Resist + Solid Embossing, stamp from Waltzingmouse, heart dies from Spellbinders, ink from Stampin Up, Glossy Accents from Ranger, silver embossing powder from stash.

“Create”: Glossy Accents Embellishments, cut from file provided by Kerri Bradford, on my Roland GX-24 vinyl cutter, colored with black markers, covered with Glossy Accents.

So, here is the total canvas, and I'm fairly pleased by how it turned out. If I had to do it over again I would try to get more blue in it, but my planning fell short there.

Don't know if I mentioned it earlier, but I did two of everything to create a second canvas for a gift. I'm not telling who it's for, she might see this page!

Thanks for visiting, and sticking with this continuing saga. Have a nice day!

Cyndie

Inspiration Showcase Row 4

2011-09-23T11:43:00.000-05:00

Greetings, all! Moving right along, I'm up to the fourth row of the inspiration canvas from the Inspiration Showcase class I'm taking. Today's row focusses on "other than paper and ink." I do believe this is my favorite row yet!

I had a lot of fun doing this row, and using some stamps and techniques that were either brand-new, or have been around a while and slightly neglected. Here are the closeups:

Heart 16: Stamping with Markers, stamps from PTI, sticky-back canvas from Ranger, inks from Stampin Up, flower dies from PTI, heart die from Spellbinders.

Heart 17: Stamping on Canvas + Vellum, sticky back canvas from Ranger, stamps from PTI and unknown source (background text stamp), ink from Stampin Up, vellum from Stampin Up, white embossing powder from Stampendous.

Heart 18: Stamping with Paint + Paint Texture, stamp from unknown source, pearl acrylic paint from Jacquard, ink from Tim Holtz (distress), crystals from Jolee's Jewels.

Heart 19: Painting with Markers, stamp from Stampin Up, markers from Stampin Up, watercolor paper from Canson, embossing powder from Stampendous.

Heart 20: Stamping on Acetate, blue card stock from Stampin Up, embossing powder from Stampendous, acetate film from 3M, seam binding dyed with alcohol inks from Jacquard, pearl from stash.

So, one more row to go, but the class is ending right now so I've a little catching up to do!

See ya later, gator!

Cyndie

Inspiration Showcase Row 3

2011-09-21T13:24:00.000-05:00

Greetings, friends! I'm halfway through with the Inspiration Showcase class (see my earlier posts here and here), and now I have row 3 to present:

Today's hearts are all about distress inks and stains. And let's get right to the closeups, shall we?

Heart 11: Pearlized Distress Resist, watercolor paper from Canson (Aquarelles Arches), stamp from PTI, ink from Tim Holtz (distress), heart die from Spellbinders. Pearlized water was made up from Pearl-Ex mica powder, water, and a few drops of gum arabic as a binder. Seems to work well as a substitute for Perfect Pearls.

Heart 12: Distress Stamping (+ Felt Rose), stamp from Stampin Up, card stock from stash, ink from Tim Holtz (distress). I had no felt, nor did I have the rose die, so I substituted a Prima flower colored with distress inks.

Heart 13: Stamping With Water + Metallic Paper, white card stock from stash, stamp from Stampin Up, ink from Tim Holtz (distress). I did not have the pumice colored distress ink to make the metallized embellishment, so I punched a flower (Martha Stewart) out of sticky-backed aluminum, rounded it with a ball burnisher, colored it with Copic markers, and glued a few black seed beads in the center.

Heart 14: Color Blend Stamping + Distress Dots, white card stock from stash, stamp from Stampin Up, inks from Tim Holtz (distress), blue crystals from stash.

Heart 15: Fingerinking + Distress Ink Watercoloring, white card stock from stash, ink from Tim Holtz (flower) and Stampin Up reinkers (heart), punch from Martha Stewart, black embossing powder from stash.

And there you have it--Row 3!

Thanks for looking, and have a nice day!

Cyndie

Inspiration Showcase Row 2

2011-09-20T14:20:00.000-05:00

Greetings, all! Today I have my second row completed for the Inspiration Showcase class I'm attending. As I mentioned on my first post on this subject, I've shaken up the color scheme a bit from the original design, just to give the project my own spin. The theme of this row is diecutting and embossing. Here are the hearts I made for the second row:

And here are the closeups:

Heart 6: Embossed Glossy + Layered Punch, card stock from stash, embossing folder from Cuttlebug, punch from Martha Stewart (oops, should have rotated flower so text reads right-side-up. Oh, well), crystal from Jolee's Jewels, ink from Tim Holtz (distress).

Heart 7: Embossed Acetate + Embossed Flower, card stock from stash, acetate from stash, ink from Tim Holtz (distress), flower from Prima, pearl from stash.

Heart 8: Paper Rosette + Embossed Canvas, patterned paper from K & Co., sticky-back canvas from Ranger, ink from Tim Holtz (distress), embossing folder from Cuttlebug, scalloped border punch from Stampin Up.

Heart 9: Altered Color Embossing, white card stock* from PTI, embossing folder from Cuttlebug, ink from Stampin Up and Tim Holtz (distress), markers from Copic.

*--I didn't have white core card stock so I made my own from white card stock (PTI Stamper's Select) and a mixture of inks on the surface to get the right color.

Heart 10: Faux Letterpress + Embossed Metal, white card stock from stash, embossing folders from Cuttlebug, sticky backed metal from stash, ink from Stampin Up, marker from Copic.

And that's it for today, thanks for looking!

Cyndie

Make It Monday #32, Stamping with Acrylic Paint

2011-09-18T19:25:00.001-05:00

Greetings all! I just barely had time to put together a quick card for the Papertrey Ink Make It Monday challenge #32, which is to stamp using acrylic paint. I really wanted to do this, for two reasons: I recently received a new shipment from PTI (wahoooo!) due to receiving birthday gift certificates, and also I am taking Jennifer McGuire's Inspiration Showcase class (check here to see my Row 1) and learning new techniques that are swirling around in my brain. So all this added up to this card:

I used the paint resist technique for this card: The flourishes from Fancy Flourishes were stamped with Jacquard pearl acrylic paint on glossy white card stock and inked over with Tim Holtz Wild Honey distress ink. The seam binding was dyed with the same ink. The flower was made using PTI's Bloom Builders #3 die on Orange Zest card stock (I got some of that luscious paper too!). The sentiment came from Think Big Favorites #6, which was stamped with black craft ink on vellum card stock and embossed with clear embossing powder. For some reason it came out with a faded, grayish look which actually looks pretty good on this card. A citrine colored rhinestone in the center of the flower was the final touch.

Hope you enjoyed it, and have a nice day!

Cyndie

Inspiration Showcase Row 1

2011-09-18T07:58:00.000-05:00

Yippee! I'm taking Jennifer McGuire's very cool card making inspiration class Inspiration Showcase! The class consists of making a series of motifs (in her case, hearts) for a 12" x 12" canvas. Each motif showcases a different technique that can be used to create backgrounds, embellishments, and card designs. I'm having loads of fun, and I highly recommend taking the class (it will be available in read-only form after it ends on September 23). So, after a short delay due to being out of town, I have finally created my first row of motifs.

I toyed with the idea of using either diamonds or butterflies for my motif, but really liked the hearts in Jennifer's canvas so much that I decided to just go with them. I did shake things up on the colors, though. I started from the opposite end of the color spectrum from what Jennifer chose.

Here's closeups of the hearts:

Heart 1: Traditional Resist Stamps from K & Co., ink from Stampin Up, paper from stash, heart die from Spellbinders.

Heart 2: Paint Resist Stamps from Anna Griffin and Martha Stewart, ink from Tim Holtz (Distress), acrylic pearl paint from Jaquard, punch from Martha Stewart, heart die from Spellbinders.

Heart 3: Trapped Embossed Resist Stamps from Stampin Up and ? (text stamp), ink from Tim Holtz (Distress), heart die from Spellbinders, rose from Prima.

Heart 4: Canvas Resist Stamp from Stampin Up, ink from Tim Holtz (Distress), white embossing powder from Stampendous, heart die from Spellbinders.

Heart 5: Kissed Resist Stamps from Stampin Up, ink from Stampin Up and Tim Holtz, heart die from Spellbinders.

This was so much fun! Haven't had time yet to try cards from these techniques, but I hope to incorporate them into my cardmaking very soon. Meanwhile, thanks for looking and have a nice day!

Cyndie

JustRite Challenge 058: Frugal Friday

2011-09-17T14:56:00.001-05:00

How exciting! JustRite's Friday challenge this time is all about making handmade gifts using items laying about. What a great idea, and it gives me a kick-start to holiday gift making! My idea for this was to make holiday shoe ornaments using Scrabble tiles:

Here's a closeup of the ornaments:

And I also made a pin to go with them:

Aren't they cute? Here's how I made them: the images (from JustRite Originals set Holiday Cheer Borders & Centers) were stamped on white cardstock, colored in with Copic markers, glued to Scrabble tiles, and trimmed to fit. The top surface was painted with Mod-Podge (matte) to seal the paper, then UV-cure resin (Lisa Pavelka Magic-Glos) was poured on and cured out in the sun for a while. The snowflake underneath was die-cut (MFT Die-Namics Snowflake Trio) from white craft foam, then the Scrabble tile was glued on. The snowflake was painted with thin glue and dusted with white micro-glitter. The shoe ornaments also have a white silk ribbon tied around them with a bow on the bottom. The shoe ornaments were glued onto base metal unpierced earring backs, and the pin is glued to a base metal tie tack finding. Believe it or not, I had all these things in my craft room--although now that I'm done it looks like a bomb hit it. Time to clean up!

Thanks for looking, and have a nice day!

Cyndie

JAI 83 Challenge, Sympathy Card

2011-09-06T08:45:00.000-05:00

Greetings all!

My sister lost her beloved dog to a stroke. I wanted to send her a sympathy card, and I also wanted to do the JAI 83 sketch challenge. Here's what I came up with:

I really wanted to do this sketch and I must have worked over the card with three different backgrounds and multiple embellishments what would have been more in keeping with the actual sketch. But all the embellies kept distracting from the simple image and message of the card which I thought was important to preserve. So in the end I just did a plain background (SU Certainly Celery cards stock sponged with Versamark for shading). The whimsical tree is from PTI's Wonderfully Whimsical set, the dog is from SU's A Little Love set (retired), and the sentiment is from SU's Hope For Comfort set (might be retired, not sure). The patterned paper was die cut with Spellbinders Pinked Circles and the seam binding was dyed with a Copic marker.

That's all for now, thanks for looking!

Cyndie

Make It Monday #31: Background with Non-background Stamps

2011-09-05T16:44:00.000-05:00

Greetings all!

It's PTI's Make-It-Monday time again, and the instruction this time is to make a background using a non-background stamp. For this I chose the two smallest flourishes from the Fancy Flourishes set.

It's a pretty simple card; the background white card was stamped with the flourishes in SU Certainly Celery ink, the patterned paper came from DCWV Nana's Kitchen collection, the oval die cuts are Spellbinders' Petite Ovals Small collection, and the flower/leaf die cuts are from Die-Namics Flower/Leaf trio dies. The blue polka dot background was sponged with white ink and the blue seam binding was dyed with a Copic marker. The thinner ribbon is SU Certainly Celery 1/4" grosgrain ribbon. The sentiment is from PTI's Mega Mixed Messages.

Thanks for looking, and have a nice day!

A Vintage Thank You to JustRite

2011-08-30T16:33:00.000-05:00

Greetings blog friends (I started to type Flog Briends--yike!). I was so fortunate as to win an honorable mention in JustRite's JRC#056 challenge, for this Christmas shaped card. So it's time to thank them for their generosity, and I'm doing it with this card:

For this I used JustRite sets Fancy Frames (sentiment) and Applique (blocks). The Applique blocks were stamped on 1" Inchie Arts squares and colored in with Copic markers. The sentiment was stamped in black craft ink and embossed with black detail embossing powder. The vintage cotton rickrack and vintage button were antique mall finds. The DP is from DCWV's Nana's Kitchen collection, and I sponged Moonlight permanent white ink around the edges of the card. By the way, the doily the card is resting on is a vintage torchon lace one purchased in Honiton, England on a visit years ago (couldn't afford any genuine Honiton lace!).

This card was also made for two challenges: The CR84FN37 color challenge of light blue, aqua, and neutral, and the Moxie Fab World sketch challenge (Horizontal Sketch Challenge). Thanks for the challenges, ladies!

That's all for now--thanks for looking and have a nice day!

Cyndie

Make It Monday #30

2011-08-29T18:45:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I was watching Jennifer's video of the Make It Monday technique for this week ("use colored pencils") and here's an example of how you can forget the technology: I was watching it on my laptop and I actually blew on the screen to try to move the colored pencil dust off the image while she was coloring. Duhhhh!

Anyway, I decided to do some jewelry this time:

These pendants were made by stamping some of the images from Vintage Picnic on PTI Stamper's Select card stock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink, coloring in with Prismacolor pencils (I blended with the pencils themselves rather than Gamsol since the images were so small), and cutting out to fit on wooden Scrabble tiles. Glued them on with Diamond Glaze, then sealed with a thin coat of Mod-Podge. There is a shiny resin coating that doesn't show in the photo--for that I used Lisa Pavelka Magic-Glos UV resin, and cured them in the sun for 15 minutes or so. The pendant bails came from Fuseworks (Diamond Tech)--they are manufactured for putting on the back of dichroic glass pendants. The photo above makes the pendants look pretty big, but in fact they are only about 3/4" square.

That's it for now, thanks for looking and have a nice day!

Cyndie

Sew, How's Things?

2011-08-26T20:32:00.000-05:00

Greetings, gang! I created this card for the Cosmo Cricket challenge, which uses a sketch by Debbie Olson (I love every single card she has ever made). Here's my take on the sketch:

I made this card as Debbie-esque as I could without stitching. The DP is Cosmo Cricket's Cherry Pie. The stamp set is one of my all-time favorites: Sewing Box Hugs from Waltzingmouse. The flower stem motif from the set was used to create the wavy edge around the panels. The bird was paper-pieced from the DP and also from SU Real Red. SU Sage Shadow (retired) is also used on the card. The floral border is Spellbinders Floral Doily Accent, the seam binding was dyed red to match the card stock, and the pearls are from Kaisercraft.

Thanks for looking, and have a nice day!

Cyndie

Make It Monday #29: Freestyle Copic Coloring

2011-08-23T09:21:00.000-05:00

Greetings fellow blog browsers! Today I have a card that is my attempt to do the latest Make It Monday challenge: freestyle Copic coloring as ably demonstrated by Betsy Veldman.

I used the Vintage Picnic set, and the white paper is a very soft, thick Letterpress paper which I thought might be good for what I wanted to do. After stamping the images in Memento Tuxedo Black, I used Copics to paint broad strokes of color in the right areas of the image, then used a toothbrush dipped in isopropanol to spritz the image and encourage the color to spread. After drying, a colorless blender was used to push back color that had spread too far. It's different, but I kinda like it. The background papers of the card were Black cardstock from PTI, and DP from DCWV's Cafe Mediterranean collection. Black lace and mini ricrac, and black and orange rhinestone stickers finished off the card. Because this card is for a man (as are nearly all my Get Well cards), I wasn't inclined to "frou-frou" it up too much. I figure I'm getting away with a lot, using lace.

Here's a closeup of the image so you can see the texture of this paper:

Cool, huh? I think I will be trying this paper again in future projects.

Thanks for looking, and have a nice day!

Cyndie

CR84FN36 and WMSC61

2011-08-21T18:05:00.000-05:00

Hello fellow Earth dwellers--

I think I've mentioned before that I need a steady stream of Get Well/Thinking Of You cards, and today was no exception. I decided to combine the CR84FN36 and WMSC61 challenges in this card. CR84FN36 is about yellow, kraft, and neutral (I chose white/black), and the WMSC61 sketch challenge is a cute sketch by Sarah Martina Parker.

I thought this particular image from WMS Rescue Remedies is well suited for a Get Well card. After stamping it on white card stock, it was die cut with Spellbinders Labels 4 and colored in with two shades of yellow Copic markers. The round flowers were punched out with punches and colored in to match. The background on the kraft paper was masked off with Post-It notes then stamped three times using the basket background from WMS Pic-Nic Patterns, in SU YoYo Yellow craft ink, then embossed with yellow embossing powder. The leaves for the large flower were stamped in SU Certainly Celery then cut out, and the pearls were colored with Copics and adhered. Just about everything was popped up on dimensionals. The ribbon was from my stash.

Well, that's all for now--thanks for looking!

Cyndie

A Challenge (JAI 81) and Some Quick Cards

2011-08-21T14:34:00.000-05:00

Greetings, folks! I have not posted many cards lately, but today I have a few. Many of them were done quickly because for some reason I need a lot of sympathy cards for deceased pets (two cats and one dog, three different owners!). Sad. Some of the animals had been in the family 20 years--it's so hard to let them go. Anyway, the first card is for one of the cat owners (a guy, so I didn't "foof" up the card much). I decided to do a challenge for this one, and the challenge I chose is Just Add Ink's challenge #81 (colors):

Cajun Craze and Peach Parfait are newer colors that I don't have in my arsenal, so I made do with patterned papers that were close. The design of this card is very similar to one I did for PTI's Make It Monday. (Being lazy, I guess).

Card specs:

Stamps: Stampin Up Sincere Salutations, Waltzingmouse Pic Nic Patterns (pattern on butterfly)

Card Stock: SU Very Vanilla, SU Bashful Blue, DCWV Citrus, CDWV Adhesive Mat Stack

Ink: SU Close To Cocoa

Tools: Spellbinders Labels 21, Petite Ovals Small, Petite Scalloped Ovals Small, Martha Stewart Butterfly punch, Mike's $1 cat punch, Cuttlebug embossing folder (Damask)

Embellishments: Jolee's Jewels hotfix crystals light sapphire.

The next card is for another cat owner. This one features a tiny "cat angel" stamp from an Inkadinkadoo set called Cats Galore:

The image was stamped in SU Bashful Blue craft ink, cut out, mounted on a Spellbinders Labels One die cut (from SU Night Of Navy), which was mounted on a Labels 21 die cut of embossed Bashful Blue. Look familiar? It's what was left from the center of the card above. See? Lazy! The outline was traced in SU Brilliant Blue marker around the outside of the die. The sentiment comes from SU's Hope For Comfort set. There's a tiny bit of glitter on the butterfly, which was stamped with a MS punch.

And lastly, I have an ongoing need for Get Well/Thinking Of You cards (about one a week) so I needed to do one of those as well (still haven't done the dog card--need to get on that...).

This card was done really fast as I had colored the border quite some time ago, right after taking the Copic certification class (practicing!). It's from a retired SU set called Nature's Seasonal Borders. The sentiment came from Waltzingmouse's Say It Loud set. Background paper is from DCWV Adhesive Mat Stack, and the brads were from my stash.

Thanks for your patience, and have a nice day!

Cyndie

JustRite Friday Challenge #056: Shaped Holiday Card or Tag

2011-08-17T12:48:00.000-05:00

Hi fellow stampers! I'm so glad JustRite is resuming their biweekly challenge series--it was always so much fun (and challenging!) to participate. And thanks for the heads-up, Kelli! This particular challenge is to create a shaped holiday card or tag using JustRite. The shape that immediately came to mind is the darling stocking template designed by Claire Brennan of Waltzingmouse fame:

The card is also a gift card holder, so it should come in handy in a few short months :)

JustRite stamp sets used on this card were: Christmas Nested Sentiments, Christmas Nested Frames & Occasions, and Holiday Cheer. The background of the stocking was stamped with the holly motif from Holiday Cheer and colored in with Copics and a glitter pen. The sentiment and holly border were stamped in white craft ink and embossed with white embossing powder, then colored in with gouache paint. White gel pen was used to add the toe and heel stitching to the patterned paper, and lace was adhered to the top of the stocking with Scor-Tape. The greeting inside was stamped with SU Ruby Red ink.

That was fun! Thanks for looking,

Cyndie

Tuesday Trigger: Squares To Cherish

2011-08-03T14:56:00.001-05:00

Hi blog buddies! Just slipping in a quick card I did for the Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger. This idea had been brewing around in my head for a few days and it was time to let it out.

I used all Waltzingmouse sets for this. The afghan piece was made by stamping the graph paper background from Off Beat Backgrounds on white paper, coloring in with Copics and Dick Blick markers (the 70% warm grey one), adding black and white dots, and cutting apart and reassembling to resemble the afghan in the photo. Then I made a simple flower bunch from white mulberry paper, lace, paper roses, punched fern, and pink embroidery thread. It's stuffed with a little bit of toilet paper to give it dimension. The sentiment (from Say It Loud) was stamped in white craft ink and embossed with white embossing powder.

Edited to add: forgot that I also made this card for the Waltzingmouse sketch challenge WMSC58! Duh! Here's the sketch I used as a guide:

Well, that was fun! Thanks for looking!

Cyndie

Make It Monday #26: Decreasing Apertures

2011-08-02T15:08:00.000-05:00

Hi Folks! This is my weekly submission to the Papertrey Ink Make It Monday series. This week's challenge is to use the Decreasing Apertures technique using dies and/or punches. Although I am distressingly short of PTI dies (hope to remedy that soon!), I do have quite a few other dies and punches to work with.

I also have some really cool patterned paper from DCWV (Cafe Mediterranean to be specific) to work with. On this card the apertures were cut from So Saffron (SU) and patterned paper (DCWV) using Spellbinders dies (petite ovals, petite scalloped ovals, Labels 21). The So Saffron card stock had been previously embossed with Divine Swirls (Cuttlebug). After adhering all the layers together and cutting through the front of the card, the message from PTI's Birthday Basics was stamped (using SU Taken With Teal) through the aperture. The butterflies were punched out of SU Pumpkin Pie card stock and DCWV paper, and adhered with Scor-Tape. The bling (Jolee's Jewels) was hot-fixed to the card and butterfly. The pattern on the butterfly was from the cloth triangle from Vintage Picnic, stamped with Taken With Teal craft ink. I opted not to do the glittered window on this card as it would have made the sentiment too hard to read, but I will certainly try it on a future card!

Thanks for looking!

Cyndie

ICopic Weekly Challenge #40

2011-07-30T14:40:00.000-05:00

Hi Folks! Just a quick project to enter into the iCopic weekly challenge #40, which is to make anything but a card--one of my "areas of strength," as my former employer used to say during annual results reviews (although I must admit he wasn't referring to my hobbies at the time). For my project I decided to make a piece of jewelry. This simple pendant is made by stamping on a Scrabble tile with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and coloring in with Copic markers--simple as that!

The stamp set used was Papertrey Ink's Vintage Picnic. After stamping and coloring, the sides were covered with gold Chartpak tape, and the finding on the back was glued on. The pendant is hanging from a leather cord to which clasp findings have been attached. The photo above makes it look very big but in fact the pendant itself is only about 3/4" square.

Here's a tip: I got the Scrabble tiles directly from the game manufacturer Hasbro's replacement parts division for only $6.50 for 100 tiles including four racks and a tile pouch, by printing up their form and sending it with a check. I received the tiles in less than two weeks and I thought it was a really good price and service. Not paid by these folks by the way, just a satisfied customer.

Thanks for looking, and have a nice day!

Cyndie

One More: Stamp-A-Faire #8

2011-07-23T21:07:00.000-05:00

Well, after a short break to make and eat dinner and do our regular evening walk, I came back to do one more card--this one had been brewing in my mind all day. It's for Challenge #8, which was to cut in one edge of the card and have something interesting going on, on the strip of card below. Here's my take on the challenge:

Stamps: Year Of Flowers: Roses, Autumn Abundance. Card stock: PTI Stamper's Select white, SU Pumpkin Pie, DCWV Citrus patterned paper. Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black and Copic markers. Embellishments: lace glued between the patterned paper and the cardstock below, orange rhinestones.

I don't do these colors very often, but I like how they turned out; maybe I'll do them again sometime!

Thanks for looking,
Cyndie

Papertrey Stamp-A-Faire 1,3,4,5,7

2011-07-23T18:11:00.000-05:00

Whew! I'm exhausted! Forgot until this morning about the Stamp-A-Faire at Papertrey that was going to issue a series of challenges, and I wasn't ready for it. Decided to give it a go anyway, and cranked out a few cards faster than I've ever done them! I'm afraid the hurry shows, but it was kinda fun anyway. Here they are, in order of the challenges I did:

Challenge #1: Create a pattern strip from stamps:

Stamps used: Quilter's Sampler; Card stock: SU Sahara Sand, Creamy Caramel; Ink: Sahara Sand, Copics; Embellishments: tiny buttons.

Challenge #3: Cut a window in card and tie a ribbon from window to edge of card:

Stamps: Vintage Picnic; Card stock: SU So Saffron, white; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics; Dies: Spellbinders Classic Ovals, SU oval punch; Embossing folder: Cuttlebug Swiss Dots; Ribbon: seam binding dyed with Copic markers.

Challenge #4: Color challenge (Ripe Avocado, Simply Chartreuse, Hawaiian Shores & Enchanted Evening):

Stamps: Autumn Abundance; Card Stock: SU Not Quite Navy, white; Patterned Paper: DCWV Citrus; Ink: Black, alcohol markers (Copic & Dick Blick); Embellishments: ribbon from stash, Clay Bord cut to 2"x2", on which the flowers were stamped. Dies: Spellbinders Labels 1, Tim Holtz Brackets.

Challenge #5: Create faux border from solid stamp:

Now this one was really a challenge for me because I don't have any solid stamps from Papertrey. The closest I could come was the solid car stamp from Enjoy The Ride; I stamped the upper windshield area in red along the side of the card:

Stamps: Enjoy The Ride, Vintage Picnic (tiny star); Card stock: white, red Martha Stewart crepe paper, linen textured grey card stock from stash; Patterned Paper: yellow from DCWV Citrus; Die: Enjoy The Ride, Spellbinders stars; Ink: Black, SU Real Red, So Saffron.

Challenge #7: Layer images from different sets:

When I saw Betsy Veldman's jaw-droppingly lovely card made for this challenge, I just had to CASE it, colors and all. I didn't have the same sets or dies, but just about everything else is copied:

Stamps: Fancy Flourishes, Wonderfully Whimsical, Vintage Picnic, Mega Mixed Messages; Card Stock: SU Certainly Celery, white; Ink: SU Rose Romance, Pretty In Pink, black. Dies: Spellbinders Labels 1; Embellishments: SU button, white silk ribbon.

Of course my cards are not a patch on the Papertrey challenge ones, but it was fun anyway. Don't know if I'll get a chance to do the other five challenges before the deadline, so I decided to post these for now.

Have a nice day!

Cyndie

Make It Monday #24: Dry Brushing

2011-07-21T15:19:00.000-05:00

So, this week's Make It Monday challenge from Papertrey Ink is to use dry brushing on a card. Hmmmmm. To my knowledge, I've not tried this technique before so it should be interesting, at least. Here's what I came up with:

I was going for a "Framed Painting On A Wallpapered Wall" look. The PTI set Autumn Abundance was used. The background pattern was stamped on honey-colored handmade Japanese paper then colored in with alcohol markers. Then it was dry-brushed on all edges with gold acrylic paint (didn't want it to be too contrasty and obvious). The vase and sentiment were stamped on SU vanilla card stock. The frame was die cut (Spellbinders deckled rectangles) from a paper made from real wood (from my stash--came from the same shop in Chicago that I got the Japanese paper from, at least 20 years ago!). The sentiment was die cut (Spellbinders petite ovals) and dry-brushed with a dried-up old Krylon gold pen, then backed with a petite scalloped oval die cut in black. Everything is popped up on dimensional dots.

Thanks for looking, and have a nice day!

Cyndie

Waltzingmouse July Blog Waltz

2011-07-17T02:00:00.003-05:00

Greetings, Waltz partners! Here is my entry into Waltzingmouse's July Blog Waltz, which features a birthday party theme. Since it is supposed to be a party, there has to be cake, so I made a matching piece of cake (gift box) using the Waltzingmouse "A Piece Of Cake" template. The cake on the card was made by die cutting a Spellbinders Labels 6 out of patterned paper, and trimming off the bottom third.

These colors are a little out of my comfort zone, but I thought they should be bright and cheery for a party. The card stats are as follows:

Stamps: WMS Say It Loud, WMS Sewing Box Hugs, Pic Nic Patterns (plaid texture on cake box top)

Patterned Paper: from DCWV "Citrus"

Card stock: white, sponged with yellow and green SU inks (cake bottom)

Markers: Copic, shading on cake

Accessories: shrink plastic, stamped with flowers then cut out and painted with tangerine acrylic paint, then stamped again with Stazon black; shrunk and painted with aqua opaque pen. Candle embellishment from my stash. White vintage cotton ric rac and seam binding, dyed tangerine with alcohol inks. Miniature tangerine ric rac, given to me by my mother for card making. Spellbinders Labels Six (layer cake) and Fancy Labels (cake stand).

Well, I've enjoyed the dance, now on to your next dance partner!

Cyndie

Make It Monday #23: Pocket Card

2011-07-14T12:57:00.000-05:00

Hello there! It's time for Papertrey's Make It Monday again, and I was happy to see the project featured: a pocket card, where the pocket was enhanced with one of PTI's edger dies. I don't yet own any edger dies, so for my pocket card I used hand-cutting of the top edge along with die cutting the pocket itself:

PTI sets used were Vintage Picnic, Fancy Flourishes, and Mega Mixed Messages. The basket goodies, which act as the insert handle, are fussy-cut out of the pocket insert, which has also been die cut (Spellbinders' Labels 4 dies). Images were colored with Copic markers, and the pocket was tacked down with 1/8" Scor-Tape. The red/tan gingham ribbon came from my stash.

Thanks for looking!

Cyndie

Thank You Waltzingmouse!

2011-07-12T19:00:00.001-05:00

About a week ago I won a free stamp set from Waltzingmouse as a participant in the WMS Sketch Challenge. Yay! And the set I chose, "Say It Loud," arrived yesterday. Double Yay! So of course I need to make a thank you card for this talented and generous lady, Claire Brennan. I wanted to use one of the stamps in the set for the card, and here's what I came up with:

The "Thanks" (minus the little squiggle on the left of the T) was stamped with Stazon Black on SU vellum paper, along with the ornament from the Rescue Remedies Additions set. Then the backside was colored in with Copic markers. The front was embellished with gold leaf (I applied Plaid foil adhesive with a 5/0 brush, then stuck the gold leaf down) to give the whole thing the look of an illuminated manuscript. The front half of the card was embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder (Divine Swirls) then the vellum was stuck down on top and bottom with 1/8" Scor-Tape. To hide the adhesive, a line of ChartPak 1/8" gold foil tape was run along the top and bottom.

Since this card mainly features stamping, I've decided to submit it for the Moxie Fab World Stamp It! Cards Week Challenge. And Claire, if you happen to see this posting before you receive the original in the mail: Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Cyndie

Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge 54

2011-07-06T09:08:00.000-05:00

Greetings Earthlings! For my card today I wanted to use the Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge 54 sketch, which it turns out is perfect for the two stylized doves in Celtic Heritage:

All the stamps used on this card came from the Celtic Heritage set. The background was made by stamping the large half lunette in SU Certainly Celery ink on Certainly Celery cardstock. The doves were colored in with Dick Blick markers. The braided ribbon came from my stash. I sponged Versamark ink around the edges of the card (too bad I didn't think of that BEFORE I glued everything down!).

Thanks for looking!

Cyndie

Make It Monday #22 and CR84FN33

2011-07-05T09:12:00.000-05:00

Hi folks! I really liked the Make It Monday technique for this week, featuring multi-color stamping with ink refills, and it occurred to me that this would be a great way to ink the separate words of a group of sentiment stamps in a repetitive way. For this card I also used the colors from CR84FN33 challenge: red, pink, and neutral.

I decided to make a Thank You card--can always use more of those. I gathered all the appropriate sentiments from several PTI sets--Wonderfully Whimsical, Mega Mixed Messages, Vintage Picnic, Quilter's Sampler--and stuck them to an acrylic block in the desired arrangement. Stamped on white craft foam with Memento Tuxedo Black (turned out to be a bad idea, the ink didn't dry and slightly contaminated the pinks and reds later), then inked the foam with SU Real Red and Pixie Pink:

I actually stamped several of these, thinking it would be an easy way to make a set, and although I will still probably use the rest of them this way, the embellishment of the card was too time-consuming to make a bunch of them. The oval frame was cut from red craft foam using Spellbinders petite oval and petite scalloped oval dies, then white beads were stitched on at each scallop. The cotton/rayon lace was attached to the back with Scor-Tape. The pink patterned paper came from a K & Co stack.

Thanks for looking, and have a nice day!

Cyndie

Make It Monday Masking

2011-07-01T12:54:00.000-05:00

Here's a little square card that I made for the Make It Monday: Polaroid 2-step Masking challenge. I wasn't going to post it since I'm not really happy with it--I think it's the colors--but my husband liked it so I thought, what the hey. Here's the card:

The masks were cut from a piece of adhesive masking film, using Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels One dies. The paper was handmade by me using blue jean fibers and flecks of gold leaf. I made it some time ago using a kit, and thought it might be useful for this project. So, the inside mask was placed first, and sponged around the edges with Brilliance Moonlight ink, then the outside mask was applied (inside mask removed), and the images from PTI's Wonderfully Whimsical were stamped in black Memento ink and colored in with Copics. Also, the internal edges were darkened by sponging Versamark ink around the edges. The Happy Birthday banner seemed a bit dark so I stamped it on separate white paper (did this with the window as well) and colored in with Copics for a little extra pop. The pink heart was punched out of pink cardstock and made 3-dimensional with Dimensional Glaze (doesn't show in the photo). The background cardstock is Stampin Up Green Galore, embossed with a Cuttlebug folder.

Thanks for looking!

Cyndie

WMSC53 and CR84FN (again!)

2011-06-28T09:46:00.000-05:00

Hi Folks! I wanted to do a challenge card for the Waltzingmouse Sketch challenge #53, and decided to use the colors from CR84FN32 again. My card is very simple:

I think this darling Sewing Box Hugs set from Waltzingmouse looks best if not overdressed! I also used the WMS Pic Nic Patterns for the background, stamping in Versamark and embossing with pale yellow embossing powder. The patterned papers came from DCWV ("Citrus") and Memory Box ("Jubilee"), and the eye of the bird is an aqua Jolee's Jewel hotfix crystal. The ribbon is seam binding colored yellow with Copic Y11. The sentiment was stamped with black pigment ink.

Yes, as usual I'm the last person on the planet to pick up on a trend: I just bought a reel of seam binding after seeing so many cool things done with it. I LOVE this stuff! I think the shininess of it is what hooked me, it just looks so rich! I'll try not to overuse it in my future cards but it will be a struggle...

Thanks for looking--have a nice day!

Cyndie