Don't have a blue birthday..but a blue card is nice

"

Stamp:Happy Moments
Ink:  Brilliant Blue, Kiwi Kiss
Paper:  Brilliant blue, olive green, designer paper?. whisper white
Other:  blender pen, dazzling diamonds, Clear Large Scallop Square , 1/2 pearls from pretties kit, tombow clue, white signo pen, white satin ribbon, dimensionals

A Love Bandit stole my heart

Isn't this a cute little candy holder using the Stamp:  Love Bandits?















I made  acetate boxes like this  last year for Easter and decided to make them again for Valentine's Day and fill them with cinnamon hearts.

Valentine Baby Shoes with a box to boot...self designed paper

Because I found the lovely double sided Valentine Designer Paper too bulky for these tiny shoes, I decided to design my own paper. On whisper white cardstock randomly stamp various stamps  from the I Heart stamp set alternating Real Red and Pixie Pink ink.  Print the template for the shoes on the wrong side of the paper.  The site here.  The flowers were from With all My Heart and Vintage Vogue.  Again, they were stamped in Real Red and Pixie Pink, and cut out.  They were attached to the shoe by the new epoxy heart brads.  Across the front of the show I embossed (in gold) "Sweet Pea" from Little Angle.  This sentiment was stamped on a scrap of whisper white paper, embossed and cut out, and then adhered to the shoe using a create a sticker tool.  Shoes of course have to have a box, so I made one similar to the ones I made for the Christmas ornaments using the scallop envelopes die It was decorated with the remainder of my designer paper and finished off with a pink satin ribbon.  The top was made with clear acetate.

This is the close up of the side of one of the shoes.

Front of the shoe showing the gold embossed "Sweet Pea" saying

Here they are all packaged to go.  Aren't they cute"
For further instructions go here

Sewn beaded cards - a wedding cake and a butterfly

I love sewing on cards.  My best seller is the beaded wedding cake.  I usually do it using pink and white beads on white paper, but decided to use crystal beads sewn with silver thread on black paper embossed in horizontal stripes (from Stampin' Up).  The backing paper is studded with crystal beads - a rare find in a stamping store in London, Ont.

This is the cake sewn with clear and pink crystals on white paper. Thread used was silver and pink.

Which version do you like better?

I've also sewn it in blue and in red.  All have sold.  As a matter of fact, I can't keep them on my table.












 This butterfly card has also been very popular.  What is there about butterflies and dragon flies?

This was actually used in making wedding invitations.  A bit labour intensive, but I only had 25 to do.















If anyone would like templates for these patterns, send me a SASE and I will send them to you free of charge.
E-mail me and I will send you my address.

Other things baby

I seem to be on a roll - with making baby cards that is.  Here are some more.

 

I had a lot of fun making these 3D baby shoes.  You can go to this site for the template.

Twins and Triplets

While selling cards at various venues I have repeatedly been asked if I had any cards for a mother expecting twins or triplets, so today I made one for each - for now.  The next craft sale if Feb. 6 in Lakefield, so I have limited time in which to make any more. Thanks for looking.

Father's Day Card

Children's cards

This is a boy's pocket birthday card.  I just used scraps of designer paper focusing on the primary colours.

Girl's birthday card.  For some reason, the picture isn't as clear as I would like it to be.

A Father's Day card made to look like it was made by a child for his/her father.

How To Read A Ruler

How To Read A Ruler

Today's Stamping 411 post comes to us from Lee Conrey, a Stamping 411 designer from Florida.

We know that "how to read a ruler" may be not where all our readers are coming from, but what better place to start than at the very beginning! Have a friend who's new to stamping?? You can refer them here and the articles within, will help them get started!

Lee writes "Understanding all of those little marks on the ruler. A standard tape measure (or ruler) in the United States is divided up into feet and inches. Each foot is divided into 12 inches. The problem starts with the subdivision of the inches. In each inch there are a number of lines of different length. The longer the length of these lines, the larger the unit of measurement.

For example. 1. The longest line in the inch is in the middle. This is the half-inch mark and there is only one. 2. The next shortest line is the 1/4" (one quarter of an inch) inch mark and there are only two of these. 3. The third shortest line is the 1/8" (one eighth of an inch) mark and there are four of these. 4. The fourth shortest is the 1/16" (one sixteenth of an inch) mark and there are eight of these. 5. Some rulers will go a step further, down to 1/32" but this is often more precise that most woodworking cuts need to be.

On the typical ruler the basic (smallest) unit of measurement is 1/16". If you count the distance between two inch marks (one inch) you will find sixteen lines. This is because an inch is 16/16th of an inch long. Because we like to express fractional numbers in the largest unit possible we call it one inch. So it follows that if you have 8 lines, or 8/16" you have a half-inch or ½". And likewise, if you have 4 little lines, or 4/16" you have a quarter inch and so on.

At first it can be a little cumbersome to count these lines but over time you will learn to recognize the lengths and the different units of measurements they represent. This often starts with the ½" mark and progresses down the line. Over time a measurements like 59-3/8" can be located quickly.

OTHER MEASUREMENTS You might have noticed that every 24" on the tape measure are marked with a contrasting black background and every 16" is marked with a red background. The marks are used by construction workers for spacing wood studs in a wall or joists in a floor/roof. 16" spacing is used most commonly for load bearing walls and 24" for non-load bearing walls. The small black diamonds represent a less common spacing scheme.

Punches border strip flower tutorial

This is not my invention, but here is tutorial  Ilna Crouse  here put together using the scallop trim punch. The result is absolutely gorgeous



Materials you will need:
12x1 strip of dsp (cardstock would work, but it's better with dsp)
sticky strip
1 3/8" punch
scallop trim punch (or any other border punch)
buttons late ( or other buttons or large brads)
linen thread
paper crimper
scrap cs to punch the circle


1. Punch your 12" x 1" dsp strip with the border punch, only on one side.2. Run it through the crimper 4-5 times, each time flattening the folds. Don't flatten them the last time you run the strip through the crimper.


3. Punch a 1 3/8" circle and cover it with sticky strip. I was out of sticky strip so I used artist tape from the art supply store.

4. Start adhering the strip around the circle making little pleats.


5. After you have finished one layer continue to the second one. My ends met at same point, so I didn't need to cut the strip. But you can finish where ever you would like and cut it there.


6. I used chocolate chip button and made a bow using the linen thread. Added a dimensional and adhered it to the middle of the flower. And there you have it. You can use it on a card, scrapbook page etc.

Another Valentine Cay Card

This card features the Ornament Punch the Heart to Heart Punch, and the Word finder Punch  and the Eyelet border punch        Paper:  real red cardstock, very vanilla cardstock,  pink cardstock  Stamp:  Hearts . Other:  dazzling diamonds. chiffon ribbon. white chunky glitter .  Ink:  real red, whisper white  

                                                                          

This is a vintage valentine card.  I tried to make it look as old as possible.

I love my coffee, and this card, made using the Cricuit die cutter depicts my love of this brew.

Aready students are thinking of graduation

My son is graduating this spring (if the College Teachers do not go on strike).  He is taking a Business Administration course and is doing his internship with CBC Olympics TV  and he fears he will not get the necessary hours to complete his internship.  As well, the strike could occur right in the middle of the Olympics - and he would miss it all. So I'm trying to think positive by going ahead and making graduation cards.  More cards will follow.

A get well card