Trendy Twine Tuesday

It's Trendy Twine Tuesday and here is my latest project with the new fall color Orange-Truffle from Trendy Twine. this color is perfect for everything fall so I decided to make a card for the Jewish New Year which was a few days ago. (Jews use a lunar calendar for their Holidays so it doesn't always fall at the same time.)

I really liked those autumn colors so I decided to make 2 different cards with the same layout and papers but swap them. I am actually not sure which one I like best!... ;-)

Apples and honey are images associated with the Jewish New Year (for a sweet year ahead) so the Autumn Flourish svg collection from Lettering Delights was perfect for my project.
I used the flourish under the apple as a base to glue my twine on. (I colored it brown first so that it would blend together better).

The flowers were made old fashion style... stamped and hand cut! (I can hear Bee(linda) gasps, as she's reading this... LOL ;-)) For the centers I punched a hole in the middle and twirled my twine around and made another hole at the end to tuck my twine in, this gives a neater result than trying to hide and glue the ends. :-)

Then I added a little sewing detail on the leaf (again punched tiny holes in the felt and used a tapestry needle) and tied my little tag with more twine... :-)

I wish I could tell you that no twine was hurt in the making of this project, but you know that I cannot lie... >.< So yes, I have to admit that there was a little bit of cursing involved... ;-) That's what happens when you have big clumsy fingers like me... ;-D
I recommend using a fast drying (and clear drying) glue for this type of project, and the use of tweezers to help hold things down as you go, and you should be just fine! :-)

And here they are, all together... :-)

This month, the twine on sale is Grape Fizz.
 
And don't forget to visit the Trendy Twine Blog for this month challenge! This time around you have to make a project using a pumpkin or Jack-O-Lantern and some twine... The winner gets a spool of Orange-Truffle, and one random winner will get 30 yards of Orange-Truffle. :-)

Layered Thanks

Other quick layered cards. The 1st one has a white base, the 2nd one a cream base. I have been using more cream lately, I love the softer feel.

For the little 'Lady Burg"

I made this card for Naomi's 8th birthday. The paper frames are done with the Nestabilities, the white background is cuttlebugged with leaves and pierced, and the ladybugs are covered with crystal effect.

Floral wallpaper birthday

The last one in my "DCVW + Damask" serie, this very simple birthday card for my sister in law uses only a tiny flower detail from the stamp set as a medallion (the circle sentiment is from a Stampin'Up set) but I really loved this paper too and I wanted to keep it the star of the show... :-)

I used the leftovers of the cardstock to make a little holder for the earrings I was sending, I love it when things match!... ;-)

Simple floral birthday

When you start it's hard to stop... I used the same paper collection (love, love, love this wallpaper effects) from DCWV and "Damask" again for this simple birthday card.

Damask Thank You

A few months ago I was the lucky winner of a stamps set on the Lizzie Anne Designs blog. When I mentioned I already owned that set, Tricia (the "Lizzie part" in Lizzie Anne ;-)...) very nicely offered to send me another set instead. :-D

I chose "Damask", and I thought it was only appropriate that Tricia would be the recipient of the 1st card made with that set, so I made her this Thank You card.

I just love that card. I adore this paper by DCVW, and I thought it was going well with those stamps. The colors are very "spring" to me and it was one of those "put-me-in-a-good-mood-card".

I am pretty confident it will put Tricia in a good mood too! ;-)

(as always by clicking on the pic you'll get a giant version, this will enable you to see the details of that cool paper)...

Yet another purple b-day princess!... ;-)

This is a card I made for my niece who just turned 3 (Yes, oops, the bad aunt that I am sent the card late! :-(... but I guess "better late than never", right?...)

As you can guess the choice of colors was dictated by the age and gender of my young recipient! ;-)

The card in itself is a very simple tri-fold (one of the panel is a gift-card holder with slots) and the top layer was cuttlebugged and then I cut the windows in it and stamped on the card base. The top layer is raised with foam tape but it's hard to see that in the pic. I forgot to take a picture during the day and had to do it at night with the flash... :-S

Going coastal tee

This new set by Melanie Muenchinger is so fun to play with... I just had to make a little "french sailor tee" because I adore them!

You know I like to mix up different stamps set from different companies... so here I used Melanie's set "Little tees", as well as Lizzie Anne's "Shore thoughts" and "By the sea", since it was perfect for my nautical theme...

I'll send this card to my friend Sandrine who just moved to New Jersey, she left the Florida coast for the Jersey coast so I guess she is still "going coastal".... She used to come scrapbook or make cards with me almost every week and I miss her and that special time! :-(

Beachy birthday

It's Lizzie Anne Designs' anniversary and the celebration is going on!

One of the events/contests is a sketch challenge. There was a choice between 3 sketches. I chose the simplest one with a square base, I love square cards.

It is really funny though, when you look at other people's work, to see how much they stuck to the sketch or went in a more personal direction. For example I saw quite a few rectangular cards which surprised me...

In general I think a sketch is a skeleton and it is supposed to be tweaked to your personal taste and inspiration, but in this case (= a contest), I tried to stay as close to the original as I could, while still adding my personal touch...

I was in the mood for a beach theme, and I especially love those cute sets, plus the recipient of the card (a dear e-friend of mine) had mentioned that red was her favorite color, so that explains why my little crab is as red as if he was already cooked (yuck!)... He is just too cute to be eaten, and I knew I had to use him and that he would be perfect holding the sentiment for me!♥ I embossed him to give him some shine and dimension. Same with the sentiment and the top of the wave (too bad I didn't have a shine pen for the bottom). I used a white Soufflé pen for the starfishes.

My card is fairly small (4x4) so there wasn't much room for a lot of action, and I kept everything simple since the card is traveling to Britain and I'm always afraid of brads, ribbons and such being a problem in international mail traveling...

Actually, every now and then, I really like making a simple card like that with little to no embellishments where the stamping really takes center stage!... :-)

Flowery birthday

I made this card for my mother-in-law's birthday. I was not too happy with my lines of dots not being straight, but there was no time for do-over since it will arrive late probably already... Let's hope she doesn't put her reading glasses on when she receives it... ;-)

The thing looking a little weird behind the stamped panel and the flower is ribbons weaved through the paper... It's hard to see since the ribbon is sheer...

Apple tree

This card started with me just wanting to use that cute little tree ("In the treetop" by Lizzie Anne). I thought maybe I would make a card for my Dad for father's day. But I had a bad energy drop suddenly and inspiration left me! Too tired to stamp!? *gasp*

Anyway this is what my overloaded brain came up with. Nothing new here, the blings in the tree have been seen here and there... but I like it nonetheless.

In the end I won't send it to my dad. It didn't feel like a card for him. So I just added the sentiment from the set inside the card in red ink, I like it a lot, it says:

"Trees teach us to stay grounded, but also to never stop reaching for the sky!"

Sunshiny hello

A very simple card, for someone who likes blue! :-) It is getting very hot here, and I was in the mood for a beach theme!

The sentiment was supposed to go on my ribbon, but I love that ribbon too much to hide it with anything! LOL And the colors were inspired by Lizzie's work with the new stamp set "by the sea" ( http://lettersfromlizzie.blogspot.com/2008/04/by-sea.html ) she even used that same orange ribbon. I love this color combo blue + orange, it is so bright and happy! :-)

The little things that look like mud stains on the pic were actually stamped in yellow and then I went over with my gold gel pen... it looks better in real life... ;-)

Naomi's birthday (gel) card

After seeing Nichole's gel card with fishes (http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/capture_the_moment/2008/04/4--introducing.html ) I just had to make my own version! (My card doesn't have a slider though).

So I used this concept for Naomi's birthday card, she's turning 7 in a week and is quite the beachcomber, always looking for new shells!...). I had never made a gel card before so, as much as it is old news for most cardmakers, it was pretty exciting to me! ;-D How cool is it that there are actually bubbles in the gel!? I had a lot of fun with this card and hope Naomi will have fun receiving it too. I was happy to stray away from princesses to tell you the truth! LOL!

I first cut the window with a punch but it was a little small so I used my Nestabilities. I glued the blue layer slightly off center so that I would get a tiny peek at the orange... The beautiful little wave at the top and the sand at the bottom are from Lizzie Anne's set "Shore thought", and the cute little seashells and starfishes are by Jolee's (love their stuff, and those are just too cute and perfect for someone living in Florida!! ;-)) My sister-in-law Christine, send those to me for my birthday among other embellishments... wait till you see the little palmtrees... ;-)

I didn't feel like using Stickles (*gasp*, what's wrong with me?) but wanted a glossy finish on my shells. I don't have crystal effects so I colored my shells with a versamarker and then embossed them with clear powder, the result was a little uneven but it actually goes very well with the shells giving them a bit of a "weathered" look IRL.

I had so much fun with this card that I will be making another one as soon as I get my hands on "By the sea" by Lizzie Anne. Right now it's on my wish list ;-) ... I already have part of the design in my head, I hope I don't forget before I get the set.

I actually bought a little notebook the other day to start writing down ideas! I think it's time to reach for it!....

(Click on the pic to see details)

Yet another b-day princess...

This card is for my niece's 4th birthday, I used the same layout for her and her brother's cards. This one uses "Once upon a time", also by Lizzie Anne.

My ribbon was about as pale as the background paper so I ran my palette ink on it to achieve this dark tone.

Could you guess my niece has jet black hair?... ;-)

Birthday Blast

My twin nephew & niece's 4th birthday is coming up and I made their card yesterday night since I wanted it to leave today. I was tired and it took me forever, since I was moving in slow motion it seems! I went to bed at 2:30 am, but the cards went in the mailbox as planned today!! I hope they get them on time! :-)

The 1st one is for my nephew, very simple design and "Out of this world" stamps set by Lizzie Anne...

Yet another pink princess...

This is a card I made yesterday for my niece, she's 3 and has officially entered the "princess phase"... :-)

I'm not completely happy with the card, I thought for a long time about what could be bugging me and I think it is the pale colors, it's lacking "punch"... (or the fact that I have a hard time with pink princesses!), I think it needs something behind the scalloped oval to sort of "ground" it, and the frog is the wrong green to me... but my daughter said it was beautiful and that her cousin would like it, so I'll trust her judgment on this one! ;-)

I just bought some Soufflé pens (the 3D opaque pens) and I am really disappointed!!! The paper seem to absorb most of the ink (unless you use it on something like pictures), and the 3D effect really is a joke! :-( I'm having much better results just using my regular gel pens...

Maybe I'm just stupid and not using them the right way but I don't see what I could do differently!... :-S

Celebrate & Cherish

Another late night card with the new Cuttlebug embossing folders and "Jolies Fleurs" from Lizzie Anne. It made sense to me to pair them together since there are Paisleys in the Jolies Fleurs set! ;-)

The flower is stamped on color paper and cut out several times, then mounted on foam tape.I stained the ribbon for the leaves with ink to match my distressed (or dirty? ;-)) edge, and I ran chalky ink over the embossed design.

I made this card for a 12 years old who is having her Bat Mitzvah (ceremony of religious majority in judaism). I wanted something bright and happy, like the occasion, and not too young looking since she will now be considered a "grown-up" when it comes to religion! :-)

I like the result, I think maybe it's missing something in the upper left corner... but I don't feel like adding a sentiment, since the ribbon takes care of that already, and I want to keep the focus on the big flower...I guess it doesn't have to be perfect... ;-) Maybe I'll see it with new eyes tomorrow since it's pretty late now and I am dead tired!...

Stamps: "Jolies Fleurs" Lizzie Anne

Ink: Brilliance Pearlescent Poppy, Versamagic Thatched Straw, Palette Lanscape

Other: Cuttlebug embossing folder "Perfectly Paisley", ribbons Target

Out of this world

My son is "out of this world" for so many reasons!!... When I saw that set I had to have it for him...

Because of his autism, he is literally sometimes "out of this world"... and also he is out of this world because he is the most wonderful and cute little boy ever and I love him to pieces!!... :-)

He likes to watch the baby Einstein "baby Galileo" which is all about planets and space...

He barely looked at the card or give me time to read what I had written inside... but I hope that in a few years we can look at it together and have a good laugh...

At least he liked the store bought card that his Dad got him, with a cute little tiger and bright colors... :-)

Anyway I really love this card, and not just because of the special meaning it holds for me. I had a great time making it and I really like the little green man (isn't he too cute!?) coming out of his flying saucer, and the background paper made with the stamps... :-)

It's a happy card, just like my happy little boy!♥ :-)

We're a great team...

This is this year's Valentine for my hubby.

It might be a little unconventional but I wasn't really into hearts and stuff... ;-) I don't know why but I really wanted to have those little astronauts together... and since I made a card for Noah (see next post) with a little alien, this team card makes more sense... together they tell a story...

I think we are a great team on the planet parenthood!....

You can't really see on the pic but I gave myself little gold earrings and wedding band, and I made my eyes green and my hubby's blue... I love having fun with details... ;-) The stars and accents on the suits are also colored with glitter pens.

I kept being unhappy with the card but couldn't figure out why...I think it is the coloring that bugs me - ah, if only I had copic markers! *sigh* LOL ;-) - or maybe the no-ribbon?....

Anyway, the recipient loved it, and that's all that matters!... :-)

Bouquet of Valentines

Those are Naomi's valentines this year.

I had bought some pencils for the kids in the class, I think they get way too many candies anyway, LOL!

A while back I saw some pencils threaded through paper to look like worms in a catalog and put this idea in a corner of my brain... I decided to twist it to make flower stems instead and have the eraser poke through my flower center...

I stamped Lizzie Anne's "Jolies Fleurs" and had Naomi color them (she complained quite a bit because we had to make 22 of those, so the coloring isn't exactly her best but I think it makes it more "6 years old"! ;-)...) then I cut them out and finished assembling them after having Naomi write the kids' names on leaves... There wasn't enough time to put glitter on the petals like Naomi wanted...

It was slightly time consuming as it is, but I love how they came out.

I brought them to the classroom today and put them in a flower pot that I found there, it looks so pretty as a bunch! :-)