Tea Box

It's my sweet neighbor Katie's birthday today, and I got her some of my favorite tea of the moment. I used the shutterfly box from MTME. Since my Cricut has been acting up I used the PDF file that you print from your computer instead and then I tweaked it a little bit by making the container shorter so that it would kind of match the height of tea bags... ;-) I was able to put 12 in there which isn't bad for something I couldn't rezize.

I decorated my box using Fanciful Flourishes and as a little wink I used the little TAZO logo that I find very cute as a little medallion on my box, (adhered with foam tape of course... ;-)) No wondering what's inside! The little tag was made with a PTI holiday set.

It is really hard to see in my pic, the leaves are actually green and I rubbed gold ink all over the edges to give it a little patina. I like messy and imperfect looks!... ;-)

Lilac Blooms

When I was about 7 years old, we moved into a big appartment (that used to be a beer brewery!) with the most magical suspended garden ever! We had a huge cherry tree (my Mom made jam every year, I remember pitting the cherries...), a japanese apple blossom tree, irises, bamboos, huge peonies, and several lilac trees (purple and white). I was very fond of this garden and wish I could show it to my kids one day, although I doubt it will ever happen... We moved to a bigger nearby city a few years later, in an appartment without a garden... :-(
Maybe it's because of this garden that lilac and peonies are my favorite flowers to this day, and that cherry and japanese apple blossom are my favorite trees... :-)

Anyway, when I saw this little flower in "Argyle Amazment" by MTME, it reminded me of the tiny flowers on a lilac bloom and I just had to try and recreate it somehow... this card was my experiment... I printed the flower in different shades of purple and with different intensity. Then I highlighted some areas with my versamark marker and embossed them with clear powder. That's what gives the glossy pink effect on the detail pic below. In real life the bloom catches the light in a very nice way. (You can see better by clicking on the pics, as this will give you giant versions)

I then embossed some more flowers and some leaves that I randomly added on pop-dots. I made the mistake of trying a branch and didn't like it but since I liked my bloom I didn't want to start over, that explains the little cluster of leaves, LOL ;-) The little rick-rack is from a Cut File called "Random ribbons", I added pearl ex on some centers, and ... voilà! :-)
I will definitely make more attempts at lilac blooms, and I think this stamp could work well for hydrangeas too (although technically I think the tiny flowers that form the big blooms might have 5 petals, but when you're an artist you are allowed some creative freedom!... ;-))

This card will go to a friend in NY with a little spring surprise. With all the snow this year I'm sure she could use a little spring flair right now... ;-)

In the spotlight: A Creative Mint

I LOVE this blog. Such gorgeous pictures, "vignettes of colors" as Leslie calls them. If you like colors and pretty pics, this blog is for you. Burst of instant happiness guaranteed!... :-D

http://www.acreativemint.typepad.com/a_creative_mint/

Enjoy! :-)

4 Lauren

If you read my blog regularly, you know I like Lauren Meader's work... You also know that she recently decided to start her own business and now sells stamps, digital paper and templates (http://www.mytimemadeeasy.com/).
Now I am not part of her design team, and she doesn't pay me to advertise for her, but this card is made using 4 of her products: 2 stamps set and 2 Cut Files!
That's because the card is for her, a little pat on the back for her hard work and her leap of faith for starting a business in this economy. Of course the main color is purple because it is her favorite color... ;-)

The little argyle panel was made with her stamps set "Argyle Amazement", the butterfly, flower and leaves were cut with my Cricut and SCAL using her "Flutter and Flowers" Cut file (really great in svg. file since you can resize things the way you want!) I then stamped a pattern on the butterfly with her stamps set "All a Flutter" (tons of options to make your customized butterfly....) and the little border I weaved my ribbon into is also a Cut File called "Random Ribbon"...

The "congratulations" stamp is from a My Favorite Things sentiments set (I think she'll forgive me!... ;-)) and the border punch at the bottom is from EK Success.

I hope she likes it. It must be quite a feeling, albeit a weird one, seeing something made with stamps and such that you created!! :-)

"Bee-day"

A birthday card for my french friend Soizick, who knows me under the nickname of Bee, so I had to use that stamp set... ;-) And the bee dictated the yellow, which dictated the ribbon... Not my colors again, but it reminds me of spring so we're all good! :-)

Button Ballons

This is my last card for "my soldier". I just found out she is going home! :-)

If you'd like to support the troops, check out http://www.soldiersangels.com/, they have lots of opportunities for volunteers. You don't have to "adopt" someone, you can also chose to send cards to random soldiers. I think I will do that next, it was harder than I had expected to write regularly to someone you don't know a thing about without getting any feedback at all! I hope the visual of the cards did make up for the beyond boring writing inside!... ;-)

Anyway, simple straightforward card. Totally out of my comfort zone though, because those are not my colors. I hate yellow so I rarely use it but I picked my colors to match the flower ribbon so... ;-)

Baby girl

Super simple baby card. Just letting the paper do all the talking... :-)
I am in LOVE with those papers' collections: Nana's nursery, baby girl (2 used here) and baby boy, from DCWV. I have used them on lots of cards, most of them not even baby cards, and they are awesome! :-D

Baby Snail

I finally parted with the bassinet my 3 babies slept in when they were newborns!... It was time to move on... ;-) I made this card for the new baby sleeping in it... :-)

I love this sentiment from PTI. There is a lot of dimension you can't see in the pic, the snail is on foam tape, its shell is also on foam tape, and so are the button-wheels. By now you know I am a sucker for gingham... ;-)

I hope it's ok with the post office, I asked for it to be cancelled by hand...

Quilt

I did consider not posting this one for a second, because of my awful stitching, but I think the beauty of this craft is that things don't have to be perfect. And also that it's a learning curve and you have to be able to laugh at yourself.... My hubby is the guinea-pig recipient and I'm sure he won't mind. I hope you have a good laugh thanks to my card and that it comforts you in your abilities if you are a novice papercrafter! LOL ;-) There is always room for improvement!... ;-)
(BTW I love the card nonetheless... :-) )

Baby Box

I apologize for the yucky pic, but it was one of those "take the pic just as we leave" project and Noah tempered with my camera yesterday and I didn't have the time to figure out what was wrong (my wild guess is greasy little fingers all over the lense...).

So anyway I thought I'd still post it, even though I didn't get a chance for retakes, since it's my 1st ever project made with the Cricut Expression coupled with my laptop via the SCAL software. Pretty exciting, if you ask me! ;-D...

I used one of Lauren's template, that you can now purchase as an SVG file, which then allows you to resize it to your taste before having your machine cut it out for you.

You cannot see on that pic but I added extra detailing to the top using her matching cut-files. And the little onesie on the card is from the SCAL shapes library. I cut my little windows (before adhering some acetate) with a Nestability (now that was a joy since it was an afterthought, LOL) but I plan on figuring out very soon how to do that with my gadget and software!... ;-)

It took me some time because I was figuring things out as I went but I have to say it is surprisingly easy to use and really fun, and no doubt time-saving (well once you get the hang of it obviously!).

I am psyched that Lauren's templates will now be available in that format (and they still come with the pdf file so that you can choose to print them the usual way instead.)

Ain't technology grand?... (coming from one of the worst computer challenged girl...)

Dunkin Donuts Birthday...

Another yucky picture taken at night... sorry! :-S A simple multi layers birthday card for one of Noah's teachers. The class got her a Dunkin Donuts giftcard so I used their color combo as my inspiration (I just went a little lighter), and a circle medallion to evoke a donut shape, since I don't have coffee theme stamps... ;-) And just for the record, she is super skinny and just likes their coffee (which she certainly needs before a day with autistic kids)... ;-)

Valentine's day mailboxes

I made those little mailboxes for Noah's teachers, using Laurens' "happy mail" template (My Time Made Easy) and her "You've got mail" stamps set. This is the size that comes from the pdf file. I didn't have the right USB port to use my computer with the Cricut. I just added a few hearts on foam tape, and a bit of ribbon. The Happy Valentine's day heart stamp is from PTI.

I totally stole this button-pull idea from Catherine Doucette (http://www.thedancingpear.blogspot.com/) (BTW, pay her a little visit, she has the cutest gingham mailbox with a little mouse...) I actually had to break one of the buttons in between the 2 holes to make a slot, now that was fun!... ;-)

And to hide my button-pull attachment, I glued a little heart inside. :-)

And as you can see, the little mailboxes contain an assortment of Ghirardelli chocolate squares.... I had to eat a few so that it would fit in the boxes. Oh the things you have to do for the sake of gift giving with a personal touch!... ;-)

Simple love note...

This one is self explanatory. I used Lauren's new set "You've got mail". I love snail mail, this set is great for that! :-)

Embossed planner

This is a project I just LOVE! it started with Post-It notes and a little planner and a new Cuttlebug folder. I had a few issues because of the size of the planner and pad (just a tad too big so that my cover paper didn't fit in my Cuttlebug anymore....) so I had to change directions like 3 times, but I do like the end result and it came out better than I envisionned. If it wasn't for a few little glue smears (grrr) it would be almost perfect! I was going to use my cool ATG gun, but a project I put together with it the other day came undone (to my big surprise since I used the permanent tape!) so I decided to stick with the yucky tacky glue... the monogram is made with PTI stamps and my Nestabilities.

I made this as a gift to someone but I like it so much that I think I will make another one for myself (especially since I have the same planner...;-)), using different colors, and maybe this time I'll add some stitching with the sewing machine. It came as an afterthought, and I had already glued the things inside, that stitching the perimeter would have kept my layers from ever coming undone! ... ;-)

Red Hello

Another card for "my soldier", using 2 new Cuttlebug folders, Herringbone and Moroccan screen. Now if you think my card is crooked because of the bad picture, maybe a little, but it is also in real life! LOL I noticed it actually after taking the picture, and since everything was put together I just let it be! *shame*. Apparently the herringbone folder distorted the cardstock, I guess I need to try with thicker cardstock next time... :-S Cute stamp is by Stampendous, I just added a tiny leaf because to me it was missing!... ;-)

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.

Paisley Thank You

By now you have guessed that my favorite accessory for paper crafting might very well be my embossing folders!... :-) Here I embossed vellum cardstock and rubbed some ink on it.

"Apple-pie"

Another simple card with the same model as the previous one. Can you tell I love that punch?.. ;-)

Flowery Thanks

I needed a quick simple Thank You card. This was it! (Although it wasn't that quick because I am a little rusty... ;-)) The cool punch is by Martha Stewart.

Fleur de Lys

I made this card for my cousin's birthday, mainly to try out my new Cuttlebug folder... ;-) I always liked Lily flowers, although it's funny that in the US it is seen as a symbol of France but in France it is a symbol for monarchists!... White lilies were actually my favorite flowers till I realized their strong smell made me incredibly sick. :-(
Obviously my goal here was to make the flower centerstage, hence the extreme simplicity of the card. I just rubbed metal paste on the embossing, so it has a more shiny effect in real life. And the medallion is heat embossed with gold powder. And I used cream cardstock and ribbon for a softer effect than white.