Sand dollars, 1st attempt at resist

More new things for me!

This time I tried the resist technique, (and tearing paper)...

It took some experimenting, especially the resist technique...

A word of explanation for those not familiar with the stamping world/words:

I stamped the sand dollars (those cool Florida's shells) on a light blue paper, using a special ink that's slowdrying and very sticky(Versamark), then I sprinkled transparent embossing powder on it, shook off the excess, and used a heating tool (sort of a hair dryer for crafts, gets very warm but doesn't blow as much as an hair dryer ;-)). That powder then turns liquid and glossy and solidify when cooled down, giving a slight raised effect and a nice "glazed" finish. Then I took a piece of sponge (cut a piece of a (clean ;-)) kitchen sponge) and wet it lightly, then ran it on a blue ink pad and then colored my paper. Afterwards I dried my shells with a paper towel to remove the ink from them. That's what's called "resist" because the areas that were embossed first are protected and reject the color...

It was harder to see what I was doing in terms of heating up the powder, with the transparent one than with the black one, and the card actually went into a different direction than what I had initially in my mind (I was gonna use a paper with pictures of shells on it and add as an accent one embossed sand dollar on a piece of torn paper, attached with a paper clip...)

In the end the card is nothing spectacular, but I really like the soft colors, and am really happy to have learned a new technique... :-)

Fluffles

If you don't know Fluffles the cat from Stampendous, it is time to meet him!

I use the little bee over the bouquet on the back of my cards, as my signature, that was the primary reason for getting a stamp with a bee but Fluffles just cracks me up...

My favorite one (which I don't own...yet...) is "Life's uncertain, eat dessert FIRST", you can see it here, it's called "Fluffles full" (sorry I don't know how to hide the link, feel free to help me with that BTW!!) : http://www.allthatscraps.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=360_363_417&zenid=8214370af1b68dfcaf3ff97008631325

And the one where he is dangling in the Christmas tree is really fun too!...

When I was done with this card I thought there was something missing and that's when I added the little bees everywhere...

Bonjour!

Another cool stamp from Stampendous called Ooh-la-la (how could I pass owning that little beauty when I'm french!?), another attempt at heat embossing.... The greating is from my new Stampin'Up set called Carte postale which is (you guessed it, I'm sure) french themed...

The paper is one of those awesome finds on sale on http://www.allthatscraps.com/ , it's called Marmalade/Tangerine megaplaid by Doodlebug. And the ribbon is a Halloween left-over from a craft project from last year! ;-)

Ladybug

New stamps, new tools, new papers...and a little time for me, what could be better? :-D

I had been waiting for those stamps forever so it was great to finally ink them!

So this morning my friend Sandrine came over and we gave heat embossing a try.

I think she is now convinced that she absolutely need to invest in rubber stamps and embossing powder and a heating tool!... LOL! ;-)

Here's my 1st card, with a cute little ladybug by Stampendous.

I'm very happy with the result, especially since this is all new to me. I used versamark for the little ladybugs all over, I just wish I had made the pattern a little less random but that's just the OCD in me talking right now!! ;-) ....

Dreamcatcher

Naomi, my 6 yo daughter, has been having nightmares lately and I decided to make her a dreamcatcher.

For those who don't have a clue what this is, a dreamcatcher is a part of the native american folklore. It is supposed to trap bad dreams in its web and let the good dreams flow to the sleeper through the holes in the web. The feathers at the bottom then release (get rid of) the bad dreams...

I google searched "how to make a dreamcatcher", and after a frantic search for the perfect ring (I finally used a tapestry ring that I covered with a suede lace), TA-DA, here is my work of art, hung in her new canopy above her bed.... (click on the pic for a more detailed view).

Here's a link for those interested on how to knit the web : http://www.nativetech.org/dreamcat/dreminst.html

After losing my sanity and eyesight making said web (which was either too loose or too tight, or so it seemed!!) it became obvious to me that :

1- It's no wonder I was never able to learn how to knit...

2- I was not a native american in a previous lifetime!... ;-)

Pink bling

A quick one, because I'm tired and dying to go to bed!!...

I started this card this morning when my friend Sandrine was here for our weekly scrapbooking/card making morning...I had pretty much no inspiration at all today! :-(

So I just went with the flow...

I find the card a little "weird", I can't quite put my finger on what's bugging me, but it's OK because I like to try and see what happens... Maybe it's too much of the same colors together and it needed a little zing, like a more pronounced color ribbon... or maybe... oh, well!!... ;-)

With my crappy pic you can't really see but some flowers and leaves are propped up on foam tape...

For Victoria

Today was not my scrap morning but after I found out about victoria yesterday I decided to make a card for her this morning.

Victoria is a young girl fighting cancer, and her teacher decided to try and reach out to people to send cards to Victoria and let her know they're praying for her. She gave Victoria a card and they are monitoring where the cards come from.

The full story is here: http://createdbycourtney.blogspot.com/2007/09/blog-candy.html

Courtney is offering a blog candy for that occasion.

There is a deadline of September 27th.

If you would like to send Victoria a card (it doesn't have to be homemade), here is her address :

Victoria Enmon

1205 Red Bud Circle

Orange, TX 77632

Have you noticed there's victory in Victoria?...

Please try to pass this info so that Victoria gets cards from all over the world!... :-)

I'll put my card in the splitcoaststampers' gallery with a little note to redirect people here...

About the card? Well same concept as yesterday with the tag pocket made from a library card pocket (I even made myself a template so that I can make it with whatever paper afterwards...) and I used that pattern paper that I love so much (think it's from dooddlebug designs)... I got the idea for this color scheme because of the picture of Victoria I saw, she was wearing this big turquoise necklace so I thought she'll love this color.... :-)

Spring is in the air! ;-)

I know, I know, it's fall almost everywhere (except for my friend who lives in New-Zealand ;-))...

I keep seeing Thanksgiving or autumn themes cards or even Christmas cards on most blogs....

But you know what, I live in Florida and we kind of live "backwards".

We stay inside in the summer because it is way too hot to do anything outside (except jump in the pool...) and come winter we get out of our house and start enjoying the cooler weather (70s F, alias 21 C)...we go back to the park and playground and reappropriate the gorgeous surroundings, it's our revival! :-)

So even though I crave Autumn colors and really miss Long island's Indian summers... this card is a little bit of spring!!! Actually the colors were kind of dictated by the green tag pocket I found in a store for school supplies (this is a pocket for library cards) and for whatever reason I was in the mood for daisies today...

So here you have it!! As usual my picture is crooked and not top quality...but you can guess that the daisies are made with 2 layers, one is white cardstock and the second one (that looks grayish on the pics) is actually shimmery vellum paper.

Maybe I should save this card and send it in the middle of the winter to someone who is buried under snow, as a reminder that better days are coming.... ;-)

Baby variation

Babies seem to be "blooming around" so I needed another baby card... :-)

Since I liked my little gift card holder so much I made a card with the same flair and patterns.

The card opens just like the gift holder but there is just a little note glued in there since it was designed to accompany a gift.

I think I need new baby stamps! ;-)

Gift-card holder

My 1st gift-card holder, inspired by Erika's tutorial (http://stampinmama.typepad.com/stampin_mama_a_mama_that_/files/thank_you_issue.pdf) Yes, I still don't know how to put links under a cut, sorry!!!......

The only think I knew when I started was that I wanted to use this dark blue paper (blue is my favorite color and the baby is a boy) and the sweet pea stamp (huh, I don't have any other baby stamp actually, but this one is so darn cute anyway!...).

Instead of an enveloppe I wanted to use the same paper inside that I had used under the pea, of course I didn't cut it right (twice, LOL!!) so I ended up with a pocket much shorter than planned but it still works OK.

I wish I had had double-sided paper, it would have been perfect, but of course I didn't have any!....I used a little bit of the same paper to make a little card that I will slide in there with the gift card after adding a few words.

Mazel Tov means "congratulations" in hebrew.

The top of the card slide behind the pea picture and that's what holds it into place. I mounted my pea and leave on pop-a-dots, and also the pea frame (the green one).

It took me forever because it was the 1st time I made this (and because I screwed up with cutting the paper) but I'm sure it will be much faster next time ;-)

I wanted something very simple and not overdone and I must admit I am quite pleased with the result...but I am partial to that cute stamp anyway!... :-)

Naomi's "masterpieces"

My daughter, Naomi, is 6 years old and she has been very interested in my new passion of scrapbooking and card making. Her eyes twinkle when she looks at my nice papers and all the little tools like punches and, of course, the glitter!!.... It doesn't matter that I bought her a huge box of Elmer's glitter glue pens this summer, she still has to use my Stickles!! :-(

She cracks me up because she always refer as what she does as her "masterpieces"... :-)

The problems arise when she starts doing her crafts when I am busy doing something else... This week-end she got a hold of the gift ribbon and proceded to put some everywhere to make the house look good (I still have pieces tied to all the chairs in the dining room...).

I do like that she expresses her creativity but when she decides to use my nice paper for that instead of the construction paper I bought her, I tend to be a little less enthusiastic about her projects!! >:-(

Of course the autistic little guy is also interested.... and he comes and borrows the scissors... Argh! ... >.<

This week-end she made a little frame for her room (under my supervision and with a little help....) with blue paper and stickers of The Little Mermaid... Once she was done she used the paper that the stickers were on and made this original piece of art that you see up there, alongside those little leaf-sandwiches. (That explains why you have a Disney logo there!!)...

I took her 1st "work of art", punched a little hole in it, threaded a ribbon and hung it up as a sun catcher. Of course she got upset that I did so without asking when I thought she would be happy that I showcase her masterpiece... *sigh* but she finally agreed to the display!....

1st attempt at tag holder....

Yesterday I had fun trying to make a pocket for a bookmark...

I had the concept in my mind and I just went with it, it evolved as I was working on it...

The pics are of the finished card, the front of the tag and the back of the tag, the little piece of blue paper is just what I used to write a little note to my friend and slided into the pocket as well.

Of course as it was going I realized I should have done some things differently. Like for example I wanted to add some brads (on the dots of the paper) but should have done that before gluing my layers on top of each other! (duh!), or I would ideally have liked the ribbon to go under the polka dot border, and the "thinking of you" medallion should have been mounted on cardstock and then propped on pop-a-dots, it would have looked much nicer and then the ribbon wouldn't have shown through..... (but when I was at that point I was starting to be tired and my eyes were burning and I just wanted to finish !! )

This is the nice thing with experimenting though, I learn from my mistakes and it's actually interesting and I might even remember it for next time!! ;-)

And I think my friend (the recipient of the card!) won't mind too much that she is my guinea pig and that the projects aren't perfect!... :-)

Still having a lot of trouble taking the pics, I move like I have Parkinsons, it's awful and it gets all blurry. I think it is really time for me to read the booklet that came with the camera and try and figure out what the buttons are for....

Also the colors are a little off!! :-(

But I'm having a lot of fun and you have to start somewhere, right!?...

Note to self : Try to keep scrapbooking for when the kids are asleep or at school and the cat is outside....

Autumn

This morning my friend came over and we did some scrapbooking. We didn't have any project in mind so we let our mind wander....

I made a few tags and this card with a fall theme. Even though it was still 96 degrees here today, I was in the mood for Fall!!

As usual my pic isn't very good ;-) and with the flash you cannot really see, but the ribbon is orange with fall names written on it like acorn, pumpkin, harvest, squash, cider, sweater....

Of course I couldn't resist playing with my metallic gel pens (but I did stay away from the Stickles!)... ;-)

I don't have a clue whom to send the card to, but it doesn't matter, I had fun making it... :-)

The scrapbooking contest

There's a cool new scrapbooking store that opened not too far from here and the owner, Sonja, had a contest a few weeks ago.

She had prepared some kits containing each : 1 sheet of decorative paper, 1 sheet of plain cardstock, 1 embellishment, 2 to 4 pics of her kids.

The requirement was to use everything that was in the kit, we were free to add to that...
I was the 1st one to pick up a kit and I was drown to this beautiful pink paper. The cardstock was white and the embellishment in my kit was a little bottle of stickles! (Glitter glue).

This is the pic of the "finished product"!

There were only 8 contestants and one didn't finish for the deadline so we were only 7. The customers of the store voted...and I was number 3!

I was very happy! I won a magazine and a store discount and am planning to buy a heating tool with it! :-) I have been eying it for a while now, I want to learn how to emboss stamps!...

The funny thing is, I was never a glitter kind of girl, but since I used the Stickles I am crazy about it and use them all the time!! This just goes to show that you never know!!....(especially in scrapbooking!!)....

Sweet Pea

It's the middle of the night and I'm fighting my insomnia by uploading my latest cards. Those are my first baby cards. I made them tonight for cousins (2 sisters) who are both pregnant.

The pink one is for the one expecting a girl, I don't know for the other one so I went with cheerful colors....

Inspired by a card from Momontherun I printed my sweet pea on white paper first (and punched it out) then printed it again on different colored papers.

I cut each pea and the leaf out and glued them with pop-a-dot for some dimension (which obviously you don't see on my lousy pic...).

I added a little more definition with my metallic gel pens and used colored pencils, then of course I thought a little glitter (stickles) would finish it off nicely.

I punched 2 little holes and threaded a ribbon in it and added a little flower brad.

BTW, a big Thank You to Erika who sent me the nice stamps set from Stampin'Up that contains this sweet pea... ;-)

P.S: I don't know why the pictures I'm taking are always crooked, I swear I try to get them horizontal ! o_O