By the Sea Slider Card

Sheila, of She's A Sassy Lady fame has opened a new group on Facebook, and posts a Monday Motivation video with a challenge to create a similar card.  It's such fun!  and, honestly, some of the other groups I belong to have just gotten too big!  "Design With Sassy" feels like friends crafting together KWIM?

So, here's my version of the slider card that Sheila posted.  This has got to be the easiest slider card recipe ever!

The little starfish rotates as she slides along the beach and when I shared this card at my Card and Craft Club there were "Ooohs!" when it spun along.   :  )

 Here's the inside:

Is your mind buzzing with ideas?   How about a penguin skiing down a hill, or a bowling ball heading down the alley towards some pins?  Or a bee or butterfly flitting from flower to flower?   Come and join the group and see what the other members created.  We'd love to have you!  
Thanks for visiting today.  : )  Christine

Anna Griffin Fantastic Flips Cards

 The bad news is that I succumbed to the lure of the Anna Griffin Fantastic Flips card kit recently offered on HSN.   The good news is that I DIDN'T get the auto ship option!  (DH was not impressed, however.  LOL!)

 So, we were off in our RV last week to the southern Oregon coast for our Spring Break trip and the weather was just gorgeous!  DH went fishing in the bay with a buddy and I unpacked my Anna Griffin kit while Cocoa and Katie lay in the sun and snoozed.
 

 I like this style of card very much because it has plenty of room for embellishment AND for adding a personal message to the recipient.  I don't like that the card will not stay closed and lay flat when not in the envelope but that doesn't seem to bother anyone else!  Anyway, I had fun for a couple of hours making cards for all occasions and then got very bored with embellishing with just flowers and butterflies.  The unfinished cards got packed away until I have access to the variety of embellishments in my craftroom.   I can't wait to try the accompanying dies out for myself.

 Here's a look at three of the cards I made:-

And to my surprise, I found that I really like this unadorned sympathy card: -

A couple of pictures for my anti-Facebook DS.   Katie the water dog:-

And here's what Cocoa has to put up with!   Good job he's a mellow, yellow labradoodle!

Thanks for visiting with me today.  Happy Sunday!  : )  Christine

Happy Easter Bunny!

I hope you are having a lovely, lovely day : )    It's going to be a soggy, wet Easter Egg Hunt this afternoon for Master J, but he won't care!

One of the things I like about my Explore is that I often see something on Pinterest or on a blog that I can redesign in DS.   I've been seeing little treat boxes made from tag dies for a few weeks and I found it super easy to take a tag shape in DS, duplicate it, flip it, add a rectangle, align and weld together to make a very similar tag box.  I added some little flower cut outs for interest and here it is front and back!

Here's a screen shot of the tag.  I was able to get three from a 8.5 x 11 sheet of cardstock. 

 Inside the tag, I attached a tiny Lindt chocolate bunny.

 Hope all the children enjoy eating these as much as I enjoyed making them.   Have a fun day!   : )  Christine

Easter Wall Decor

I learned, many years ago, that if I needed to buy some special item for a project I should buy two of them rather than just one.   So, when I needed a white shadow box for my St. Patrick's Day project, I bought two of them and sure enough, in taking them out of their packages,  I managed to damage one frame!  So, there it sat on my desk for a week until yesterday, while flipping through the 'Easter' images in Design Space, I came across one of my favorite images from the Easter seasonal cart - this cute little chocolate bunny with his ears nibbled on one side.

Aha!   Inspiration struck and here's the result: -

 The 11 patterned paper bunnies are #M33047 from Theresa Collins' Bunnies and Chicks and I duplicated the chocolate bunny's bow and added one to each of the other bunnies.


I learned how to make the teeny tiny rolled rose from a tutorial on Paulette's blog here.  I used my quilling tool to roll them and glued them onto tiny scraps of paper which were then trimmed close to the base of the rose.

And of course, the damaged frame offered an opportunity to embellish!

I am linking my project with Challenge #272 - Easter over on the FCCB blog


and with the Spring Flings and Easter Things over on the BBTB2 blog.


The Cut It Up challenge # 92 is to include a bunny on your project.  Check!

You will truly be inspired by the variety of cards and projects you find so hustle over and check out the challenges!   Thanks for visiting with me today!   : )  Christine

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Top o' the mornin' to ye!   Just a quick post to share the little pots of gold I constructed for the children at OHM this month. 

The file - from SVG Cuts Feeling Lucky collection was resized so that I could fit 4 of the pots on one sheet of black 12 x 12 card stock and still fit 6/7 pieces of 'gold' (Rolos) inside plus a gold coin.

Cute huh?  Thanks for visiting with me today.   Enjoy your corned beef and cabbage!   : ) Christine

A Quick Birthday Gap Card With A Surprise!

It's our friend Steve's birthday this week and as usual, I was finding it SO hard to make something uncomplicated and plain as per DH's request.   I finally reverted to the old standby - the personalized Gap card (DS directions here) - and used the Varsity font for Steve's name. 

I finished off the front with some twine and added the 'Happy Birthday' sentiment from the Life's a Party cart inside the card.

But... this is a significant birthday and I wanted to acknowledge this in some way.  I typed 'birthday' in DS and up popped an image I'd never seen before from Photo Fun -Celebrations.  Could I find a way to use this image on the card,  perhaps with the number candles from Sweet Treats?  Bingo!  I put the birthday present overlay and the candles on the BACK of the card and firmly resisted the urge to get out the glitter, or the Stickles, or even the Wink of Stella!

The card was approved by DS - both front and back! - and I added our best wishes inside with a white gel pen.    Happy Birthday Steve!   Thanks for visiting with me today.  : )  Christine

A Shadow Box for St. Patrick's Day

Shadow boxes filled with paper flowers are a 'hot' item in some of my Facebook Groups at the moment and since St. Patrick's Day is almost upon us, I decided to make one in gradient shades of green with an appropriate Irish sentiment in gold vinyl.

The box is sized at 8 x 8 inches and I removed the inner wooden shelf to allow for more room for my flowers, but as you can see, they are still a little squished!

The flowers come from the Art Philosophy cart and are sized at 5 inches.  I used 5 flowers in 5 shades of green from Paper Accents.   I find that lighter, less structured paper rolls into the flower shape much easier than say, Bazzil or American Crafts which is a heavier, sturdier card stock.   I inked the edges with Mowed Lawn and misted the flowers with marshmallow Glimmer Mist and then water before rolling them.

The sentiment is written in the Art Nouveau font - one of my favorites!  The shamrock comes from Seasonal Soirees and is called, don't ask me why, Four Leaf Clover.

My wrist certainly got a work out rolling 25 roses and I can tell that I am regaining some flexibility. Yeah!  I am linking my shadow box with the St. Patrick's Day challenge at FCCB.

And with the Decorate to Celebrate Anything Goes challenge here.  

And... with the DLArt Frogs And/Or Green challenge here.

And... with the Cut it Up St. Patty's Day challenge here!  

Love, love, love the variety of the DT's projects.   Off to pin a few for next year!   Thanks for visiting with me on a rainy PNW Saturday.  : )  Christine 

More Tinker Bell!

Yes, I know I said that I wasn't going to buy the Tinker Bell and Friends cart, but when an e-mail arrived from Hallmark Scrapbook offering the cart for $14.99, I could not resist! 

Look at the detail in the wings!  

I added a label on the top of the jar featuring another image from the cart, but replaced the 'cut' icon in DS with the 'write' icon.  I used a green pen and then brushed Mod Podge over the top so that the ink smudged across the label.  I like this technique and have used it many times to soften the look of the writing.

Can you tell that I am enjoying playing with the new Nikon?  Thanks for visiting with me today. : )  Christine

Baby Boy Crib Card

I have been waiting and waiting and waiting for someone to become parents or grandparents so that I had an excuse to purchase the Tiny Miracle files from SVG Cuts and make this box card.  Finally, our good friends became grandparents to the sweetest baby boy and here's my card for them:-

Inspired by the monochromatic challenge at FCCB, I used many shades of blue and the result is so soft and soothing - just right for a baby card.

I love the creativity of this file and it certainly has that 'wow' factor.   I think I need a baby girl crib card for my stash, don't you?  : )   Thanks for visiting today.  : )   Christine

Art Deco Birthday Card

I don't buy many carts since the introduction of DS, but Art Deco, in my opinion, has so many beautiful images that it is well worth the investment. 

This lady is one of my favorite images and I used her on the birthday card I created recently for my DD.   I incorporated the comedy and tragedy masks into my design since she is a devotee of the stage and a very talented actor.

I was so impressed with my restraint when adding embellishments.  Sequins and glitter - apart from a stray piece or two transferred from my desk! - were just not necessary with the lovely colors and texture of the American Crafts card stock that I used.  The innies:- 

O.K!  Time to get inky and glittery!   Thanks for visiting with me today.  : ) Christine

Happy Valentine's Day!

We are in the midst of a deluge here in our corner of the PNW!   It's the perfect day to stay indoors by the fire and work on some long overdue cards while DH ties some flies to use when fishing the Yellowstone on our summer trip.

But first, I want to share the treats I made from Mary's Lollipop Garden file at SVG Cuts.  This is an older file, but easy peasy to construct and to add extra touches to make it your own.

I cut the lollipop covers from patterned paper and then realized I would have to discard half of them because on the file, the cuts are upside down and packed closely together to save paper.  There was just no way to 'slice' them apart!   My solution was to use double sided paper that was patterned on one side and unpatterned pink or red on the other.  See how it pays to have a large stash of paper?  LOL!

I also found that I could not secure the cover to the lollipop with ribbon as Mary suggests, but adding a little strip of washi tape helped keep the tabs in place so that I could make that little knot.

How cute are these lollipop gardens?  Have a lovely Valentine's Day and thanks for visiting with me today. : ) Christine

A Jar Full Of Pixie Dust

This past month, DSIL has been working away from home, and so our DD and Master J have occupied our guest bedroom one night a week so that we could be entertained by Master J for two days a week instead of one.

They introduced me to the Tinkerbell and Friends movies and I have no idea how, with two DGDs and oodles of Kindergartners, I missed out on the fun!  Searching for Tink on DS, I discovered that I do have one image - from Disney Classics, and so was able to resist the urge to buy the Tinkerbell and Friends cart!

I wanted to make a pixie dust night light jar for Master J and so I 'had' to make a trip to Craft Warehouse to buy a green tinted mason jar.  I used Art Glitter glue and painted it around the inside of the jar.  The glue dries clear and so the uneven paint work - rotating the wrist will take some time to recover apparently - did not matter too much.   Next I swirled fine gold glitter around inside the jar and on the lid and allowed it to dry while I cut Tink's shadow layer in black vinyl for the outside of the jar.

I have underwater tea lights (from Amazon) which light up by turning the casing rather than from a hidden switch and was able, therefore, to mount the tea light under the jar lid. ( O.K. Please forgive the rotten, out of focus photo.  The new Nikon is on its way!)

To hide the light, I tied ribbons on an elastic hair band and added it beneath the lid.  The effect is magical when the jar of Pixie Dust is alight and Master J just wanted to hold it, and then he wanted to unscrew it to get out the dust.  I hurried to provide him with a pinch of dust (glitter) which promptly went onto Mama who obligingly pretended that she was about to float away!  Truly, that was a magical moment. : )

Thank you for visiting with me today. Watch out for Pixie Dust!   : )  Christine

Treats in Heart Shaped Tins for Valentine's Day

Aren't these the cutest things?  I was looking for something I could create for the children at OHM and found these at Michael's in the Wedding section. (I used a coupon, of course!)

I lined the inside with a heart shape cut on my Explore, and affixed the ribbon, from my RRR February club offering, with double sided tape.  A stamped tag and glittery sticker finished it off.   Easy peasy, indeed!

The tin holds three chocolate hearts plus more glittery stickers and hopefully, can be used for small treasures after Valentine's Day. 

 Off to visit the Fracture Clinic.  Fingers crossed - well, I would if I could! - that this is the last time.   : )   Thanks for visiting with me today.  : ) Christine

Nativity Dimensional Scenes

 In the first part of December,  we had a lovely visit to some friends in Kennewick.  Naturally, I planned an outing to Hobby Lobby on our way and picked up, among other things, (lol!) a Tombow Stamp Runner.  This thing saved my sanity!  While I cannot use my beloved ATG gun yet, I am now able use the stamp runner and since layering is tricky, being able to remove and re-position layers is wonderful.

As a thank you for their hospitality, I planned to take the Nativity Dimensional Scenes available as a the Design Space Make It Now project, and convert it into a tri-fold card.  Five weeks later (!!!!) here it is:-

I used American Crafts cardstock for all the layers (except the star) and was delighted with the perfection of the cuts.  I did not use pop dots between the layers because I was thinking to make it look like inlaid wood.

To make the pieces into a card, I cut the blue backing shown above, three more times in black cardstock and added hinge pieces, scored twice to accommodate the depth of the pieces, between the backing and the bottom blue layers of the scenes.

I also inked the outside edges of the layered pieces when they were completed, to give a finished look. 

This project is much easier than it looks and the hardest part was finding all the different shades of brown cardstock!  Give it a try!   Thank you for visiting with me today.   :  )  Christine

Valentines for 2016

Are you a fan of Kim's Card Kits?  I have to admit that up to this point, I subscribed to Kim's site for inspiration but when I saw this month's Valentine Kit, I hit the 'buy' button.  For $17.00 I received 7 card bases and envelopes, matching ribbons, bling, 2 sheets of cute stickers from Pebbles, and cardstock pieces cut to size for each card.  The instructions and pictures were easy to follow and everything was good quality.

I really had fun putting these cards together!   I wasn't, however, able to make them look as good as Kim's pictures so after the second card I used her designs as a starting point and did my own thing.  : )

This one is my favorite for it illustrates perfectly the crafter's mantra that there's no such thing as a mistake, just an opportunity to embellish:-

My wrist continues to heal and I find that I can do more and more with my right hand.  Woo hoo!  I start physical therapy on Friday - not looking forward to that!   : (

Thanks for visiting with me today and take a look at Kim's Card Kits.  I'm thinking that the DGDs might like a kit each to practice their card making skills.   : )  Christine

"Do You Want To Build A Snowman?"

Thanks to the Explore's Print Then Cut capabilities, this one handed crafter was able to put together a cute little January treat for the children at the OHM.

The hardest part was wrapping the covers around the Hershey nuggets and pulling the tape from the dispenser!

I hope they will enjoy building Olaf (with his arms either raised or lowered) before they snack on the chocolate.   :  )    Thanks for visiting with me today.   : )  Christine

Inspired by Pinterest

It was the 'other' Grandpa's birthday a few weeks ago and we celebrated by watching the Christmas Ships and then warming up with a delicious meal at Gustav's.

I took advantage of a recent cart sale at Cricut.com to add the Lyrical Letters 2 font cart to my collection and I am loving the different looks of the fonts.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a text bug in DS and I was unable to change the color of the numbers in my sentiment by the normal method of isolating them in 'edit.'   So, I duplicated the text and changed it all to red.  Then, being very careful to maintain the spacing, I deleted all the letters except the 21 and 40.  Going back to my original text box, I deleted the 21 and 40 making sure to add spaces in their place.  Then it was easy peasy to attach the two text boxes on the mat.

Here's the inner sentiment:-

A simple guy card, but easy to personalize by changing the numbers.  I'll be using this file again!

Update:  Since I did not regain strength or feeling in the fingers of my right hand, it was decided to insert a plate and screws.  I had the surgery on Christmas Eve and had my best present EVER in warm fingers that not only move independently but can also can feel Cocoa's soft, curly coat!  Soooo looking forward to getting back in my Craft Room.   Thanks for visiting with me today.  : ) Christine