Happy Thanksgiving!

This year I am especially thankful for all the wonderful people and fellow crafters I met over the internet. You guys are fun and inspirational in a lot of ways...

I am also thankful to have "found myself" through this new hobby of mine. 6 months ago I had no clue I could make cards and just play with paper & colors the way I enjoy doing it now.

This has been a new creative outlet for me and it feels really good!

Also I started my personal blog almost a year ago and have really enjoyed writing (it was always one of my favorite things), I have "met" some pretty awesome people along the way.

So Thank God for a year of self discovery and for bringing those lights into my life.♥

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

PS: For this card, it was the 1st time I was using my watercolors in 10 or 15 years and, boy am I rusted!!! I used to watercolor a little when I was (way!) younger and I think it's time to get back to it! I hope that with some practice it will come back to me!! :-)

Gift-card wallets

Following (somewhat) Lauren's directions (that can be found here : http://laurenm.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/2007/11/17/gift-card-holder-wallet/) I made an attempt at tiny gift-card holders...

I changed it slightly to my liking, gluing the pocket the opposite way so that the gift-card cannot get out of the pocket and making the bottom fold less wide.

The little decorative band inside is there to protect the fingers from the back of my eyelets which turned out to be pretty sharp...

I think I'll use those for my son's teachers. I love that thin cardstock from Cosmo Crickett and it is double sided, so perfect ;-) ...

So you don't have Copic markers either?....

I have been envious of those famous markers when I see the great colorings Lauren does with them... :-P but at $4 a piece I think it will have to wait ....

In the meantime I'm making the best of my Roseart kiddie markers....

So I bought watercolor paper, since I used to do watercolor a little when I was young(er) and I wanted to give it a try with some stamps... also I thought it would be a good medium for the regular markers since it is more absorbent, and would allow me to go back on the same spot several time.

I also finally invested in quality ink and OMG what a difference it makes!!... I bought Brilliance in Graphite black and I LOVE it!

So I stamped on the watercolor paper and colored with my kiddie markers, using different shades of the same color together or going over several time with the same color to make some shading. Of course this option doesn't allow any play with very light colors since there just isn't light colors in kids markers! ;-)

It's not Copic results, (and I managed to make the bee's stripes bleed... LOL) but you'll see on the flowers that you can achieve decent results without the expensive stuff (for now!!!! ;-)).

Of course it looks much better IRL because it isn't so flat and dull as in my pics.

(As always clicking on the pic gives you a giant version).

Teacher's b-day

Tomorrow is Naomi's teacher's birthday.

I don't know if she'll like it but this gift sure is unique!

Naomi drew a picture on tissue paper and I melted it in the candle with my heating tool...

The candle is not too big so it won't last forever! LOL....

Holiday pressure

The older I get, the more stressful I find the holiday period. :-(
Especially now that my kids are in school, trying to find gifts ideas for everyone and get them on time puts me on edge.
It is a cultural thing, I don't think we are especially selfish people in France, but we don't give gifts left and right just because it is Christmas... Maybe some chocolates here and there but that's mainly for friends and acquaintances, not so much coworkers or the doctor's office or even the teachers....

Anyway, as much as I love this tradition of giving I find it stressful for my time table and my wallet... and I am not so talented that I can get away with homemade gifts! LOL :-S...

This being said, I am working on little scrapbooks (with my kids' pics and/or their drawings) for grandparents, some also for brothers & sisters (but with their kids this time ;-)) and intend on stamping some candles to give to teachers with whatever else when I find just the right gift for them. They are very important people in our lives and I'd like to show them my appreciation (without going into debt or embarrassing them!).

This morning I tried my very first stamped candle and it went OK, I needed to try out the technique with the tissue paper, it is pretty cool indeed!...

Yesterday I made this origami box for my daughter with some beautiful cosmo crickett paper.
My husband bought an origami book a long time ago and it never occured to stupid me, when I started paper crafting a few months ago, to look into that book! *facepalm*
Anyway now I have (looked in the book)....and it is is pretty awesome!.. ;-)

ETA: I just found a tutorial for the box on SCS, for those who don't have a book... : http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/origami_box/

Congrats pregnancy

Babies, babies everywhere!...

I made this card for a relative who's pregnant and I don't know the sex of the baby, so I got this idea of playing with both genders' colors and the sliders popped right into my mind with those cool ribbons... I hope she won't think I misunderstood that she was expecting twins! :-)

I am in a brown period lately... I find it very soothing. :-)

I initially wanted to use blue & pink papers instead of the buttercream in the background but I thought it was maybe too much and it is softer that way...

For the sentiment I heat embossed with white and blue powder, hoping maybe they would melt together but they didn't and the blue staid as sprinkles in the white which is a cool effect anyway! ;-) I only have one "congratulations" stamp so I used what I have, but it would have been so much better with a smaller sentiment to balance the card out... :-(

The babies are on dimensionals, so is the sentiment.

After I was done I thought something was still missing so I added a little flower (everybody loves flowers right?). Then later on, I looked at it again and thought there was still something missing so I added a second half flower and a little leaf... and I was finally happy with myself. :-)It's funny how such a little difference can "do it" for me!...

Baby Cuttlebug

It seems like everyone is having babies lately...

This is another Cuttlebug card, so cool not to stamp anything sometimes!! ;-)

I can't wait for the Polka dots embossing folder to come out! :-P I had to settle down for the swirls for now! ;-) ...

Holidays

Found this kit of pattern papers at Oriental Trading. It does make the job quite easy!... :-) Of course I added some Stickles here and there... ;-)

I said I wouldn't make holiday cards this year but I figured I might need a few to put in gift packages...