Pink Lemonade

Second Piece - So shiny...and more upscale :)

So I got my second piece done last night. This one is still a simple center folded piece and then beaten with a hammer for some texture. I also added a small hole to create the dangle in the center...I am loooving this one! Enjoy!

 

Learning a new skill...

Whenever I find I am just mojoless or in a rut I usually end up teaching myself a new skill. Well, I stumbled upon an AWESOME metalsmithing technique called Fold Forming developed by Charlest Lewton - Brain in the 1980's...I just found it this week  and fell in love it!! This site, Brain Press, has TONS of info if you'd like to see and understand how it's done.

I decided to go find some copper to work on today. And here's my first project. It's not "Over the Top" amazing or anything but I love it! :) I have a second project in the works and a plan to work on some Sterling Silver that I have in the studio either later tonight or early tomorrow morning...

 

This is the pendant before I applied a black patina. I like it but it was "too shiny" so I decided to add some contrast by using a black patina.

 

And here's the same piece just after I applied a bit of black patina to the top surface. Pretty neat change isn't it? I like how it really brought out the contrast in the textures on here.

 

Now, I only have one style hammer so I can't get all the textures I would like right now but as I start to build my tool inventory I will be interested to see how this changes the look of the pieces I am making. This pendant is approximately 1 1/2" x 4". My second project is more oval/round in style and just about the size of  the bottom of a muffin pan I would guess...I will be sure to post pics of that one once I get it done. :) I am thinking that I may just start an Etsy store and sell these nifty things...my question is this, would you buy one? Would you wear one? Thoughts?

Enjoy!

CardMaker Kit-of-the-Month Club - Project: 2

Okay so it took me a while longer than planned to get back up into the studio, create this fun flower card, photograph it and blog it but HEY! I made it! LOL

 

Here's my second card using the CardMaker Kit-of-theMonth Club Kit - Friendship Blooms. I took the "layering route" tonight and cut a few strips of the patterned paper and layered it onto the flower shaped card. Then I trimmed the strips using a sharp pair of paper snips and sanded the edges. I then outlined the top half of the card using a glue pen and covered that with the glitter that comes in the kit...fun right?  And since the kits come with the perfect size square envelopes I thought Iwould stamp my envelope again to make the entire project all matchy-matchy. :) I hope you enjoy!

CardMaker Kit-of-the-Month Club - Project: 1

Hey Gang!! So nice to be back on here with something FUN & CREATIVE to share with you! YAY!

Thanks for the wonderful comments on my last post, I was very encouraged and just wanted to take the time to say THANK YOU. :)

Soooo before I show you my project I wanted to share some info about the CardMaker Kit-of-the-Month Club with you and how it works. Here's the list of bene's to members and an idea of how it all works.

·         When members join, their first kit is over ½ off the usual price - $7.99 (plus postage & processing)

·         They also receive 5 free gifts along with their first kit: zippered carrying pouch, bone folder, embossing and piercing tool, “created by” stamp, and acrylic block.

·         Kits will be sent about every month at the cost of $16.99 (plus postage & processing)

·         There is no minimum purchase and members can cancel at any time.

·         Members a assured of  a 100% guarantee of satisfaction.

·         Each kit includes exclusive materials to make 8-10 cards such as:

o   Quality card blanks and envelopes

o   Printed papers

o   Die-cut sheets

o   Decorative stickers or rub-ons

o   Clear acrylic or self-cling rubber stamps

o   Color-coordinated ribbon and embellishments like brads, buttons, glitter, pearls, rhinestones, flowers, and more!

o   A full-color, step-by-step instructions

·         None of the kits or kit components are sold in retail – they are sold exclusively to members of CardMaker Kit Club!

·         Each kit features an occasion like birthdays, thank-you cards, friendship, etc.

·         Each kit teaches a fun technique like embossing, stenciling, quilling, iris folding, specialty card folds, and simple layering techniques

·         There is also an instructional video for the first kit and for using the free gifts. http://www.cardmakerkitclub.com/video.html

·         To view a gallery of kits, go to: http://www.cardmakerkitclub.com/project_gallery.php

·         To join or learn more, just go to http://www.cardmakerkitclub.com

 

Okay so that's the info part....here's the eye candy part! LOL

I thought I would first share a few photos of the kit itself. Then show you my project.

 

This is how the kit arrived at my door. All organized and pretty. The front item you see it are the FULL COLOR INSTRUCTIONS on how to make the cards shown on the front cover. Also in the booklet are step by step instructions on how to do specific techniques with step out photos as needed.

 

This is my "unpacked" shot of all the goodies. As you can see there is a ton of product here. Stickers, Stamps, Die Cuts, Die Cut Card Bases in two colors, Square Envelopes, Patterned Paper, Ribbon, Fabric Flowers, Glitter, Brads & Sandpaper....and the best part? It all MATCHES! YAY!

So now without further ado - Here's my card -  Friends.

 

As you can see I mixed up the papers a bit, used the glitter, the sandpaper, the die cuts, the stamps etc.... And since the card was just too cute I decided to stamp up the side of the front of my envelope to make a quick matchy matchy envelope to go with it! I hope you enjoy this one! Hop back over tomorrow for my other card I have to share with you...next time it'll be a fab and fun flower shaped card!!! Enjoy!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year & all that goes with it!

Good morning my bloggy friends!

Well I have been super quiet as of late I know and there are many reasons for that but the biggest is this: I have simply not felt like blogging! I have had this blog for over five years and this is the first time I can honestly say that I have simply not even wanted to blog....about anything....for anyone or any reason!

A few months ago I had some MAJOR disappointments in the "industry" and as the months have passed not only did I have those first disappointments to deal with I also have had additional ones too. Biggest and newest is that Layers of Color as we know it will be closing their doors and they are currently selling off all the stock on hand. This news came as a shock and a surprise to me and it just has taken the last bit of wind from my sails to be honest.

I have taken this last month to reflect my "spot" in the industry and have found I really dont' have one to speak of and that for me is a first in five years!! So I have NO IDEA where or what I will be doing over the coming months but it is sure to be interesting to me seeing as I am simply feeling like I am "out of options" and have no real direction as to where to look next.

There is a silver lining however and I have to report that I finally felt spontaneously creative on Saturday! YAY! It was a great feeling and I have a photo to share of what I created!

This is a shot of a Black Forest Trifle that I created to bring to my husbands annual squadron party. It turned out beautifully don't you think?

I have also kept up my weekly card on Card Postioning Systems and so I will blog those soon too!

And last but not least, I have a plan for the next few posts to also share what I will be creating with some kits from the CardMaker Kit-of-the-Month Club!!! I have designed for a few of the kits and so it's now fun that I get to work with fully finished kits and see what else I can come up with. Having all the matching components to work with really helps take the "guess work" of our design and from this weary designer's heart it's like a breath of fresh air...so I hope you will pop back over tomorrow to see the first project I have created using the "Friendship Blooms" kit, the first you will recieve as a member of CardMaker Kit-of-the-Month Club. :)

Sparkle Christmas

This week's sketch over at Card Positioning Systems is the last of the year!!! Can you believe it? CPS is taking a holiday break....so YOU HAVE TO PLAY one last time... :) Here's my card for this week...I hope you enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies:
Flower Soft Diamond Range : Ruby & Gold
Patterned Paper: My Minds Eye
Stamps: Inkadinkado
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Bamboo Leaves
Flower & Leaves: Memory Makers

Inky Antics Wrap It Up Blog Hop!!!

 

 

 

Welcome to Inky’s “Wrap It Up” Blog Hop! If you’ve come fromTex’s blog, Savor The Journey, then you are in the right place! I used four fun little stamps for my project today.  First I quickly dressed up my plain white tissue paper by stamping Tumbling Snowmen along the edges of the paper in red ink. I then made short work of the bag itself by first stamping  Peace on Earth WordGround in Rich Cocoa Memento, then I masked off a square around that image and stamped Speckeled Background in Cloud White VersaMagic to kinda create a "frame effect". And finally I used one of my favorite Inky Christmas images, Snow Shepherd to create my tag. :) You can find all of these image and more here on this page:http://www.inkyantics.com/december2011hop.htm

Here's a shot of my entire bag all assembled and ready to toss under the tree.

Then I thought I would share a quick shot of the close up so you can see how I masked the square around the image centered on the bag's front panel as well asa little bit of a close up to show you how simply I colored the main image. I didn't go whole hog on this one, just added enough color to the image to make the details POP! I whipped up a double layer triple loop bow using my Bow Easy (also available at Inky Antics) to just give a "finishing touch" to the tag.....All these fun details while keeping the time invested into a fun and cute wrap job short and manageable for this time of years hectic schedule! Enjoy!

The blog hop starts today and ends on Sunday, December 11^th at midnight Central time. Please visit each DT members’ blog to view their projects and leave a comment for each designer. The more you comment, the better your chances are to win. (Limit one comment per blog, please). Two people’s names will be drawn at random to receive a surprise Inky prize pack. The winners’ names will be announced on the Inky Antics (insert link) blog next Monday, so remember to stop back and see if you’ve won.

 

Your next stop will be Debbie’s blog, The Paper Garden. Have fun hopping and remember JESUS is the reason for the season!

 

For a Special Young Man

 I finally have gotten some "me time" today to get into the studio and create! And I finally inked up more than just the sentiments from Sweet Silhouettes! Okay, so yeah you all are right *love*.........

This card is for my younger brother...he's eighteen, in college, getting STRAIGHT A's and is pursuing God's calling on his life. He believes he will become a lawyer with a focus on Constitutional Rights (or something like that, I can't recall exactly what it's called! LOL)....he feels we need good men to step up and defend what our country was founded on if we are going to preserve our heritage as a Godly nation....I say "GO FOR IT"! I am not one to get "into politics" per se but I love that he has a critical mind that is strongly based in Biblical foundations. :)

Anyway, I send him a little "walking around money" each month, so this month he is getting this fun little card. I challenged myself to make a not heritage looking card...I love the way these images worked with this fun and bright color palette! LOL Enjoy!

Supplies:
Stamps: Layers Of Color - Sweet Silhouettes
Ink: Tsukineko - Memento Tuxedo Black
Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye - Ooh La La For Her
Cardstock: Bazzill
Dies: Spellbinders - Labels Ten
Embellishments: Velvet Ribbon, Glitter & Light Green Rhinestones

30 Days of Thankfulness: Catch Up & a card for today!

I got so busy with real life Thanksgiving that I didn't take time to blog. I did however reflect each day on what I was thankful for! So here's my bullet point list. :)
Day 23 - Thankful that my DH was able to get home from his mission in time to join us on our holiday trek to see family.
Day 24 - Thankful for family but also for family who loves to be together.
Day 25 - Thankful to be able to breathe freely. I had a very scary allergic reaction and had a difficult time breathing and once the scare was past the thankfulness of knowing I and none of those I love suffer from asthma on a regular basis was HUGE. It was very frightening to not be able to breathe freely for a few minutes!
Day 26 - Thankful to get to go and spend a few hours enjoying God's beautiful nature while we treked the side of the NC mountains in search of the perfect Christmas tree.
Day 27 - Thankful for safe travels and no major delays while traveling home from NC.
Day 28 - Thankful that God has provided work for my DH during this trying time of non steady orders....even if it meant hearing an alarm going off at six am first thing Monday!
Day 29 - Thankful that my children have had the chance to learn ASL to include some beautiful Christmas carols...signed songs are so beautiful!
Day 30 - Thankful for friendships....near and far, real life and online.... & Thankful for realizing this year that life in balance is a much happier and less stressful life.

Thank you all for reading through my 30 days of Thankfulness. I know some of you just come to "see what's new" in my creative spot on the web...so thanks for reading along!

Well I have to apologize to Emily at Stamping Bella this week. I got home from NC and life was bonkers with a very strange and jumbled schedule and I TOTALLY FORGOT to create my CPS card for last week's sketch! BUT I did create it and loaded it to the blog late - and here's what I made. I love how it came out...during this time of Autumn hues and Christmas red and green preparations, I thought this color group was a fun one! Don't you? Enjoy! -

 

 

Supplies:
Stamps: Stamping Bella - LuLu's Set of Fruits (set of four)
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black
Markers: Copic SketchMarkers
Patterned Papers: My Mind's Eye - Ooh La La For Her
Cardstock: Bazzill
Twine: The Twinery - Honeydew
Flower: Prima
Embellishments: seam binding, button

30 Days of Thankfulness: 22 and a card to boot!

Hey gang! 

Today was what I like to call a recoup day. After the day I had yesterday I was feeling so worn out today that we pretty much laid low and did just what "HAD" to get done... and when I thought about it I found I was super thankful that I don't have to work a 9-5 out of the house job. I am able to take days and just "wing it"...it's great!

 

Today's card is done using the Dressform die just release by Spellbinders as well as the Nested Tea Cup dies! I turned the largest tea cup die upside down to create the skirt. Cute, right? :) The stamps are from Layers of Colors newest relase from Nina B Designs - Beautiful Lace. And ink? Shimmer and shine from none other than Tsukineko's Delicata Golden Glitz. I had intended to showcase this gorgeous ink when making my Christmas cards but I keep getting sidetracked and using it for other projects! LOL Enjoy!