Debbie Does Crafts

Happy Valentines 2012

2012-02-13T13:49:00.000-05:00

A little more embossing with a touch of debossing. This beautiful heart is from Memory Box and it was stamped with versamark ink and embossed in white. The dark pink color was added by using my SU marker "Pretty in Pink". The debossing was done around the embossed flowers using an embossing stylus.

The border is a dry embossing folder and the leaves and birds were colored using copic markers the color on the dots is the SU marker again.

Hope you will be spending Valentines day with your special Valentine. I will be working and spending my day with some precious new Valentines.

Thanks for visiting!
Debbie

Distressed Embossing

2012-02-08T07:27:00.002-05:00

I have never been able to figure out what "my style" is when it comes to my cards but the one common element that seems to be on most of them is the use of the color, white. Maybe white signifies my wish for things (life) to be neat, clean and tidy without all those messy details of day to day living. LOL! Any thoughts?
I used white pigment ink on this background panel for the distressing over the embossing and used a touch of tea dye distress ink just on the edges.

All the stamps used are from Hero Arts. The frame was stamped, then the sentiment and bird were added. The bird was colored with copics and then distress inks were added to the frame.

Have been loving all the cards out there using negative space so I pulled out an old corner punch to create a little negative space on this card. (just pretend that you don't see that the bottom right corner punch is not centered lol!)

Then center white oval was cut with a nestability and then embossed with an embossing folder.

Hope your week is going well, I have worked over 20 hours the last two days and I get a day off today so I am going to take my dad out to lunch.

Thanks for stopping by!
Debbie

Triple Embossing

2012-02-07T06:59:00.000-05:00

I am having a lot of fun playing with embossing folders. My Cuttlebug is getting a work out. The only stamp on this card is the Hero Arts sentiment, everything else is done with embossing and punches.

I started with the white panel and ran it through the Cuttlebug using the dots embossing folder, then one more time using the vine embossing folder. Then used the Shabby Shutters distress ink pad to pull lightly over the panel to color the vine. Next a little Tumbled Glass distress ink was added to the edge and corners. The white panel goes through the Cuttlebug one more time to be cut with a Spellbinders nestability.

The flowers were created using white card stock that had been embossed with the dots folder and colored lightly with pink ink. The butterflies were made using punches.

The yellow panel is BoBunny dotted paper that was embossed using a Hero Arts folder.

Something about that background with the tiny dots reminds me of a material from my childhood. Little dresses made of soft, lightweight dotted swiss material, perfect for hot humid summers in the south.

Thanks for visiting!
Debbie

Tie-Dye Birthday

2012-02-05T09:30:00.001-05:00

This card makes me think of the era of Tie-Dye and it was created using a background stamp from Hero Arts that was inked with a Kaleidacolor rainbow dye ink pad. I started out with the idea of using the whole stamped image as my background but decided in these bright bold colors it might look better used as accent pieces.

I embossed the card base with a Sizzix embossing folder and then used a Spellbinders nestability to cut out the window in the base and also to cut the oval frame from the stamped background. The butterflies and the strips framing the sentiment were also created from the stamped background.
The ink pad had very bold colors so I softened them by adding Picket Fence distress stain which caused the colors to bleed a little but I think that just added to the Tie-Dye look.
The sentiment was also stamped using the rainbow ink pad.

This was another late night stamping adventure and I think if you are going to be up you might as well be productive.

On a personal note I wanted to share with you the wonderful blessing that we have experienced this week. My son, Jared is 31 and was diagnosed with Hodgkins in 2007. A couple of weeks ago he had bronchitis and thought he had broken a rib coughing so they got an xray and saw spots near his mediastinum, so he went for a CT scan, from there to the oncologist and a PET scan on Wednesday. God blessed us with a negative PET scan and I am so thankful, relieved and feeling extremely blessed. Thank you God for this blessing.

Thanks for spending part of your day with me!
Debbie

Supplies:
Hero Arts CG335 Dot Flower Pattern
Hero Arts CL371
Ranger Picket Fence distress stain
Kaleidacolor Spectrum rainbow dye ink pad
Sizzix embossing folder

Stripes and Frame Birthday

2012-01-31T06:55:00.004-05:00

This card was inspired by the same challenge as yesterday's card. Again using the colors; red, pink and light blue. I used embossing on this card also. The stamp and embossing folder are from the Sizzzix/Hero Arts Stripes and Frame set.

First I embossed the card base with the embossing folder.
Then I colored the stamp using markers and a small ink cube. Then spritzed the stamp with water before stamping to add a watercolor look.
Added a little glitter to the red outline of the sentiment frame, a few punched butterflies and a scalloped border punch to the side of the card.

The challenge is the CR84FN47 Challenge and the colors are seen below and the stripes remind me of the ribbons hanging from the swing.

Same inspiration but two totally different looks.

Thanks for visiting!
Debbie

Just a Little Blue

2012-01-30T09:35:00.002-05:00

A card in pink, red and light blue for the CR84FN47 Challenge.

My friend, Tanya uses embossing folders beautifully on her cards and she inspired me to dig out some of mine and put them to use. After I ran the cardstock through the embossing folder I cut out the window using a nestability. The flowers in the window are from the Hero Arts Large Flower Background stamp.

The border at the bottom is a EK Success punch with a strip of white cardstock and some Hero Arts hearts and Martha Stewart butterflies.

My last day at physical therapy this morning. We're going to see how things go with me doing my exercises at home. The trip to PT is about 90 miles round trip so twice a week added on to my work week means I have been traveling over 500 miles a week. That adds up to quite a bit of gas money and wear and tear on my car.

Have a great day, thanks for stopping by!
Debbie

The Yellow Version

2012-01-29T15:42:00.002-05:00

Just had to give the card a try in yellow. I used white embossing instead of black ink for the flowers. The first time I did the background I embossed it on yellow card stock and the background and the flower blended together and it was just too busy. So I tried embossing it on white card stock and added a little color around the edges and I like the way it looked much better.

We are having a quiet relaxing Sunday afternoon. Just enjoying being home with my hubby and plenty of time to do whatever I feel like doing. That is my kind of day.

Thanks for sharing it with me!
Debbie

Happy Birthday #5

2012-01-25T12:09:00.002-05:00

Moving right along with the birthday cards for 2012. This one features all Hero Arts stamps and the color pink. The background was stamped with SU Pretty in Pink ink. The flowers and the butterfly were colored with Copic markers. I can visualize this one in soft creamy yellows also. It would be great to stamp it in several different color palettes and give a set to someone special. Maybe the next time I will change it up a little by embossing the background stamp in white on colored cardstock.

Off to the hospital for an afternoon of meetings. Hope you are doing something fun.
Thanks for visiting!
Debbie

Supplies:
Hero Arts Stamps:
CG385 Dot Flower Pattern
CL383 Antique Engravings
CG403 Large Flower Background
Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
SU Pretty in Pink Ink
Copic Markers

Happy Birthday #4

2012-01-24T14:55:00.000-05:00

Yeah! Another birthday card made. TANYA came over on Sunday and we had show and tell. We showed each other the new goodies we have acquired since we were last together. All that sharing inspired some fun new cards. I made this card for one of my January birthdays. The card base was made using this Hero Arts Stripe and Frame embossing folder. The butterfly is created by two Butterfly Dies by Memory Box. The sentiment is from Penny Black.

It is so much fun to have someone to share creative time with. We talk, create, talk, eat, talk, and did I say talk? I enjoyed every minute. I did so much talking I only completed one card so I am off now to get a few more January birthday cards done.

Have a fabulous day and thanks for stopping by.
Debbie

"While You Were Sleeping"

2012-01-21T10:23:00.003-05:00

This post doesn't have anything to do with the Sandra Bullock movie, it is more about my life right now. I am having some sleep issues and it is rare these days to get more than 2 hours sleep at a time. Last night I actually slept for a little over 4 hours straight and woke up around 4am feeling rested and Wide awake. My options were limited, I didn't want to watch re-runs....again. Couldn't get on the computer because it is in our bedroom and somehow I didn't think my sleeping hubby would appreciate that. So I made this card using a new Penny Black cling set, punched a few butterflies out of vellum, and added a few pearls. Very simple but at least I was productive.

I have heard of sleep walking and sleep talking maybe I can start a club for sleep stampers :). Forgive my silliness, I am pretty sure it is from lack of sleep.

Have a great weekend and thanks for your visit.
Debbie

Love!

2012-01-18T09:57:00.000-05:00

The inspiration for this card came from the CR84FN Color Challenge.

I just love the pink, yellow, and white colors and was particularly inspired by This card by Sue Lelli. Loved the little touch of red that was added in the pp.

I was looking at the colors and this heart stamp by Memory Box came to mind. The heart was stamped and colored using inks and markers from SU. It was embossed on antique linen card stock and that gives it a little distressed look. The colors were softened by covering the heart with Rangers Picket Fence Distress Stain. The distress stain was also used on the butterflies and the sentiment.

I love the way Tiffany uses doilies on her cards. I got a few packs on my last trip to Michaels and thought this one was perfect as a background for the heart.

Just went in to my craft room to get the numbers for the stamps used so I could share them with you and somehow the "Love" stamp has disappeared off the face of the earth. I have searched everywhere and can't find it. I was up in the middle of the night and decided to be productive and did a little cleaning in my room...so hope that I didn't throw it away. Don't you just hate it when you can't find something that you know is probably hiding in plain site? The heart and butterfly are from Memory Box.
The butterfly is called Periwinkle B1181 and the heart is Daphne Heart #1422.

Thanks for your comments, I am feeling a little better today :).

Thanks for you visit!
Debbie

Negative Space

2012-01-17T14:38:00.002-05:00

I have another card for the CASE Study Challenge # 73. The die cut is from a Silhouette design and I used the negative space to feature the sentiment. The butterflies are also a silhouette design. The frame is versatile and you can choose which of the lines you want cut and which ones that you just want to print. It would be so delicate by cutting all of the lines but I wanted to be able to pop it up, so I printed the lines in the corners.

I am fighting off a nasty cold and so far it is winning the fight. I was supposed to teach a Neonatal Resuscitation Class this morning but woke up with a slight fever and figured my co-workers would appreciate me keeping those germs to myself. So, back to bed I go. Hope you are having a wonderful, germ free day :).

Thanks for visiting.
Debbie

Supplies:
Silhouette Mackintosh Frame C00090
Silhouette butterfly C00001
Penny Black sentiment 4185F
Memento Tuxedo Black Ink

Friends Forever

2012-01-15T08:56:00.000-05:00

Good Morning. I have seen some wonderful cards out there using the negative die cut space and decided to join in the fun. The CASE STUDY challenge this week is about using the negative space and this is my entry.
It features two Silhouette designs and a Penny Black Clear Stamp SET Mimi's Many Loves. There are some adorable images in that set. Below is a look at the card when it is opened.

I colored the girls and flowers with copic markers and then used Glossy Accents to give the flowers some dimension and shine. The butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch that was also colored with a copic marker and covered with Glossy Accents.

These are the two Silhouette designs used. The first one is a Nested Hearts Design and the second is a new design Card-Heart Sq. Invites. I chose one of the hearts, un-grouped the 4 invites, deleted the outer edge around one and used the heart border. I centered the heart over the border design and then drew a rectangle around them the size of the entire card. The designs were centered on the half that would make the front of the card. Then let the Silhouette do its magic.

This was a fun card to make and I am looking forward to making more using the negative die cut space.

Thanks for visiting.
Debbie

Background Flowers

2012-01-14T12:36:00.001-05:00

Life has been kicking my butt! Nothing major, just a lot of little things and today was designated "My Day". I am spending my day using a few of the new stamps that have just come out. I have a few new Hero Arts and Penny Black stamps that I have been wanting to get inky and this is my first completed project.

This lovely stamp is by Hero Arts.
I inked the stamp with versamark frost ink and then Memento Rich Cocoa dye ink and embossed it using clear embossing powder.
Then I colored in the flowers and stems with a white colored pencil, since I stamped it on a colored background.
The flowers were colored using a brush marker. I scribbled the color on an acrylic block, used a watercolor pen to pick up the color and painted the flowers. A little more color was added with a colored pencil and then I blended the colors using a white colored pencil.
The stems and leaves were colored with copic markers.
The butterflies are a Martha Stewart punch.
I used a glue pen and Martha Stewart glitter to cover the butterflies and around the edges of some of the flower petals.
It is hard to see in the photo but I also colored in some of the small background flowers with the white pencil.
Just added a few pearls and the ribbon and the card is complete.

Now I have a difficult decision ahead of me...do I go back and straighten up my craft room or do I go back and keep creating and just let the mess continue??? Since it is "My Day", I'm opting for more creating :).

Hope life is treating you well and thanks so much for stopping by.

Debbie

Supplies:
Hero Arts Large Flower Background
Martha Stewart butterfly punch
Martha Stewart carrara marble glitter
Prismacolor white colored pencil
SU Lovely Lilac marker
glitter pen
clear embossing powder
versamark frost ink
Memento Rich cocoa dye ink
Copics YG 91, G 40, YG11

Happiest Birthday

2012-01-06T11:49:00.001-05:00

Another simple birthday card today. This card features stamps by Memory Box. I think this butterfly stamp is one of the prettiest there is. I stamped the butterflies, colored them with copics and then cut around the outer right side to create the top layer of the card. Used the same white card stock for the second layer and stamped the sentiment on that layer. The card base is bazzil card stock the same color of one of the butterflies. So card 3 for 2012 is done and in the mail today.

I love the reminders I have set now. I set them to remind me a week before the date so that I would have plenty of time to get one made and in the mail. Now I have no excuses. Hopefully everyone will get a handmade card on time this year.

Supplies used:
Memory Box stamps
leaf print butterfly and Happiest birthday
Copic colors are B00 and BG10
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink
Versamark Ink
Clear detail embossing powder

Thanks for visiting today!
Debbie

Almost Clean and Simple

2012-01-04T20:42:00.002-05:00

Birthday card #2 is done and I am happy to report that #1 was delivered on time. I would be excited to be off to a good start but it is way to early to be celebrating. I usually do pretty good in January, not so good after that. But I can just tell that this is going to be a better year.

I got some inspiration for this card from this post by Joan on her blog, Paperlicious. Check out the vivid butterfly card, it is fabulous. Love her colors!!

Quick post this morning because I am out the door to PT. Always on the run these days. Thank you for stopping by, it makes my day!

Debbie

1st Birthday Card 2012

2011-12-29T09:40:00.005-05:00

Thank you for the great ideas on how to get reminders for events! They were very helpful and I went back to my Yahoo calendar to check and they send reminders. So I have something I can use until I get to check out your suggestions. Would never have thought to look if it hadn't been for your comments.

This is my first birthday card for 2012. They start early, Jan. 2nd, and I have quite a few this month. I was trying to design something that would be easy to make and duplicate, making a few changes to make them more personal for each individual. This could be easily changed by using a different border punch, different stamp, different colors, and sentiment.

Quick post today as I am headed to Physical Therapy and then off to work an 8 hour shift. Not looking forward to the PT but my shoulder is getting better, I have more range of motion but still have a fair amount of pain.

Have a wonderful day and thanks for visiting!
Debbie

Sending Cards a New Year's Resolution

2011-12-27T08:35:00.000-05:00

Good Morning,

It's that time of year, reflecting on what happened this last year and how to improve things in the coming year. One of the things I want to improve on is getting the cards I make into the mail. My craft room is full of cards that I have made over the years and that makes me a little sad. Why didn't they make it into the mail? some of them were made for challenges, some were made because I got a new stamp and wanted to try it out, and some because I was trying a new technique.

It seems when birthday time rolls around I want to make a card specifically for that person and it doesn't feel right to choose a card I've already made. Do you feel that way? I want to make it special for that person and by the time I get around to doing that their birthday has come and gone, no card in the mail… So one of my New Year's resolutions is to do better. I want to get those cards made in a timely manner so that they are in the mail and received on that special day.

I think the first thing I need to do is find a way to alert myself to upcoming birthdays. I used to remember everybody's birthday but not so much anymore. Do you have a system for keeping up with birthdays? If you have something that works well I'd love for you to share it with me. Do you know of a computer program that gives alerts in advance?

I think the second thing I need to work on is not trying to make it the most wonderful card they have ever received! LOL! I want to make it special but if I try so hard to make it special that it never gets in the mail, that doesn't accomplish anything.They don't even know I've been thinking about them because their card is in pieces on my craft table. So now they think I've totally forgotten their birthday which isn't the case at all.

January has quite a few birthdays so if you have any ideas that would help me I would appreciate them.

How do you feel about resolutions? Do you make them? Do you keep them? Do you have something special you're going to work on in the upcoming year?

I'm going to spend the day making a list of other things I would like to improve on this year and share some of those with you tomorrow. Hopefully, I will also have a January birthday card to share.

Thanks for stopping by today, your visits are always appreciated.

Debbie

Adorable Marci

2011-12-23T12:29:00.002-05:00

I have a couple of new stamps from LalaLand Stamps and I think they are so adorable. This cutie is called "Marci with rose". She was colored using Copic markers. The frame was created using a new design from the Silhouette online store and the edges were colored on the Silhouette. The rose flourish at the bottom is also from Silhouette. The sentiment is from PTI.

She looks a little "summery" for this time of year but we are experiencing warm weather. It has been in the 70s so it doesn't feel like Christmas at all here. For those of you who are experiencing all the bad winter weather I wish we could share some of this with you. Take care and be safe if you are traveling.

Thanks for visiting!

Last Minute Christmas card

2011-12-22T12:26:00.002-05:00

This Holiday season has been different in many ways and one of those is that my Christmas cards are not all the same. Usually I made them all the same and make a lot of them. This year I have made several different designs and I confess I have even sent a few store bought cards. I think this may be my favorite one. It was created entirely using the Silhouette. Now that the design is done they are so quick and easy to make.

I used one design from the online store and just duplicated it over and over. I arranged it to form the wreath, offset it, cut it out and applied it to the card base. I created a few additional holly leaf clusters to add over the wreath to give some dimension and then added Glossy Accents to the berries. The tag was also made on the Silhouette.

I hope that you are enjoying the Holiday Season and are surrounded with family, friends, peace and joy.

Happy Holidays

Debbie

Christmas Cheer

2011-12-14T18:51:00.002-05:00

This is a letter sized Christmas greeting that I created for my Father-in-Law. He is in his 90s and will be spending the holidays in the hospital so I wanted to make something large enough to add some Christmas cheer to his room.

All of the elements were created on the Silhouette including the font. I did add a little dimension to the holly and Santa image.

We had our stamp club Christmas lunch yesterday and it was so good to see everyone and exchange a few homemade goodies.

I am looking forward to this next year of meetings. I wasn't able to participate as much in the past year but I plan to be right there in the coming year having fun and enjoying all the creativity. So fortunate to know all of these great women.

Hope you are enjoying all of the holiday festivities. I am still making cards but haven't put the first one in the mail yet. Hopefully some will be mailed before Christmas.

Thanks for visiting!
Debbie

Christmas Crafts

2011-12-04T10:50:00.001-05:00

This cute little penguin card was created using another design from the Silhouette store. The purchased design was a set of four that included the penguin shape. I made it into a card by offsetting the penguin design. Copied the offset outline and welded the two shapes together to form the card base.

Then made a few more Christmas treat boxes. Love this adorable little reindeer box design. Then I thought about using the box base with a different design and printing the design onto the box. So I chose this mistletoe design and printed the mistletoe onto the box and cut out the bow that came with it to add for extra dimension. Possibilities are endless...how fun!

It's day 1 of vacation and it's going to be a day full of Christmas crafting. Still have lots of cards to make if they are going to get in the mail before the holidays. Have a wonderful day!

Thanks so much for your visit.
Debbie

Gingerbread House

2011-12-01T10:27:00.001-05:00

Another Silhouette Christmas design today. I thought this was the cutest little gingerbread house. So festive and bright. The sentiment was also created on the Silhouette. Added a little glitter and a little snow. This was fun to put together but I was covered in glue by the time I was finished.

Hope you are having a good week. It's a busy one for me, but next week is VACATION!!! I can't wait :).

Have a great day and thanks so much for visiting!

Debbie

Christmas Pocket Card

2011-11-30T07:23:00.001-05:00

Back with another Silhouette Christmas card. I used the present card design and added the reindeer design to the base to make patterned wrapping paper. It is a pocket card and this is what it looks like when you pull out the pocket.

It would be easy to create and print your sentiment on the white section of the pocket or you could stamp your favorite sentiment.I changed the size of the design so that it would fit in an A6 envelope.

Went to a work related conference on Monday and got home around 830 last night and this morning I am off to work. So just this quick post today and I will see you tomorrow.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!
Debbie

Silhouette Christmas Tags and Gift Box

2011-11-28T08:06:00.001-05:00

I have a couple of projects from the Silhouette store to share with you today. First is this adorable little gift box. I increased the size to make it as large as I could on the Silhouette SD and it is 3 3/4 inches tall, almost 3 inches wide at the base and 1 3/4 inches deep. Nice little size for candies or small goodies. This project makes me really want the new 12 " Silhouette so that I could increase the size a little more. I bought my SD last year on black Friday and was hoping for a sale as good as that one but I haven't seen anyone match it yet. My next projects are a couple of gift tags.

The holly backgrounds are a fill pattern from the store, the Santa is a print and cut file and the reindeer is a cut file that I colored in and offset before cutting. I cut them separately and glued them to the tags for a little extra dimension.

The designs were on sale this weekend and I stocked up. Fun shopping :)

Leaving this afternoon for a conference so I will see you in a couple of days. Thanks for visiting!!

Debbie

A Silhouette Santa

2011-11-27T10:33:00.001-05:00

This card is a design from the Silhouette store. I did alter the size so that it would fit an A2 size envelope. All that I had to do was pick out the card stocks that I wanted to use and color Santa's face using a copic marker. The card front lifts at the end of Santa's beard and there is plain white cardstock over the red bottom where you can put your sentiment.

I am just getting started with my cards and haven't started shopping yet. But I do have two weeks of vacation in December so I am trying not to stress too much.

How are your preparations going? Are you done or have you procrastinated like me?

Thanks so much for stopping by I have some more great Christmas designs from the Silhouette store to share with you this week.

Debbie

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T07:52:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving and tell you again that I am so thankful for your visits. Life has been crazy for me the past month and I haven't had time to do much crafty stuff or visit you but I can see daylight now and hope to be posting and visiting again very soon.
I feel so blessed and have so many things to be thankful for and getting to know all of you is on that list! Your visits and comments are very special to me.
Wishing You a wonderful, safe, and Happy Holiday!

Debbie

Snow Globe Shaker Card

2011-11-06T10:00:00.001-05:00

All the elements from this snow globe card are from the Silhouette gallery.
First I offset the snow globe design and made it into the card base.
Then I went back to the original design and cut it apart between the base and the globe.
I used a fill pattern for the sky and then colored the base and wrote the sentiment over the base. Then grouped the elements back together.
The tree swirl pattern was colored and offset and cut twice.
The Santa and sleigh were a solid design, so I cut them apart and filled the 3 sections with different colors and then grouped them back together. It was offset and cut around the offset, rather than cutting directly around the design.
Then I used the snow globe pattern again and did an internal offset and cut both edges to have the frame for the shaker part of the card.
Placed that frame and the second tree swirl cut out over a piece of acrylic and cut the acrylic to fit it.
Cut dimensional foam tape to fit behind the offset frame and tree swirl cardstock. Removed the tape backing and sealed 3 sides. Poured some large glitter into it and sealed the last side.
If you decide to make a shaker card make sure that the foam tape covers all edges so that your filler doesn't leak out.

The hardest part of the whole card was cutting the foam tape small enough so that it wouldn't show.

I am so happy that the time has changed back but today is going to be a long day. I am working today from 3-11, and I am not sure how I managed to schedule myself like that for the first day of time change.

Hope you don't have to work today and are enjoying life!

Thanks for visiting :)
Debbie

Huge Sigh!

2011-10-29T16:19:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone! I am finally back and first of all wanted to share this sweet little card. The stamp is from Stampavie and the frames were made using my wonderful Silhouette. The image was colored with copics.

I have wonderful news to share and that is that I took my IBCLC exam back in July and found out on Friday that I passed. What a HUGE relief!! I didn't realize how stressed I was about the whole thing but when I was able to open the website and see that I had actually passed, I burst into tears.....I was literally shaking I was so relieved. I had recently taken a job at my hospital as a part-time lactation consultant and if I had not passed the test this year....I had to try again next year. The test is not cheap and is only given once a year so thank goodness I don't have to worry about that anymore.

All that pressure....was self inflicted. Isn't that terrible? I have been a Neonatal nurse for 35 years, consider myself blessed to have had that opportunity and I plan to continue working in the NICU prn. But early last year I started talking with one of our LCs about the need for increased support for our NICU moms and made the decision to pursue this career path. It has been quite the path for the last year. Outside of my regular job hours I worked with her to complete my requirements and did over 100 hours of education in order to be able to apply for the test. I am afraid my poor family has gotten the short end of things during this period, but they have been very supportive.

So huge sigh! and huge smiles!!!! I start my new job next week and am looking forward to it but also have some mixed feelings about not being in the NICU all the time. I'll admit to some tears when I think about what a blessing that opportunity has been. So many families over the years who have touched my life in ways they will never know. Even on the most stressful of days there have been blessings. If you have never seen a premature baby before you might not understand how a baby as tiny as 1 lb can have a personality and be the most precious of miracles, and I consider myself fortunate to have seen that.

So thank you for allowing me to share my news and thoughts with you. Now that some of the stress is gone I hope to be here more consistently and I thank you for your patience.

Thanks for visiting!
Debbie

Penny Black Christmas Ornament

2011-10-21T10:06:00.000-04:00

I know, it's not even Halloween yet! But....TANYA came over on Sunday and she had this adorable PENNY BLACK stamp that was new to her collection. We always show off the new goodies we have gotten and this enabling always leads to shopping. Now I just need this cutie in my collection.

She is colored with copics. Glitter was added to her hat and mittens and I am not sure you can tell in the photo but versamark and clear powder were used to emboss the globe ornament and her wings.

I decided to make her an ornament instead of putting her on a card so I traced around her on a second piece of card stock, cut it out, added a little twine for a hanger and glued the two pieces of card stock together. I used plain card stock so you could also use this as a tag and put the the writing on the back. Then if they chose they could use it as an ornament.

We had such a good time checking out all our new goodies and playing with Lainey. She is so cute and I can tell she is going to be a crafter. She found my craft room and went straight to the rack with stamps and started to pick out her favorites LOL! Hard to believe she will be 1 soon.

Also hard to believe that my son is 31 today!! Happy Birthday, Jared!

I have so many Christmas stamps that I have collected over the years...and you can't make but so many cards, but wouldn't it be great to make ornaments of them and have a special homemade ornament tree?

Have a great day, Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting!

Debbie

Silhouette Star Birthday Card

2011-10-18T11:15:00.000-04:00

It's Birthday time! Time has just flown by and my son will be celebrating his 31st birthday on Friday. I wonder where the time has gone.... I am always telling the girls at work with young children to cherish every minute because it goes by way too quickly.

This card was created on the silhouette using 3 different designs and a fill pattern.

This was the design used for the card base.

This is the fill pattern. I love these because they are so versatile. You can change the size, the direction and the opacity of the patterns.

This sentiment was perfect for the card base. I used the fill pattern for color and offset it with a white border for the cut line.

And the 3 little stars above the sentiment were taken from this frame design.

The white inner part of the star is cut out and I added a piece of green card stock behind the cut out so it would show up more than it did against the white inside of the card and I didn't have to worry about where I placed the sentiment inside the card.

Thanks so much for visiting!!!
Debbie

A Lifetime of Happiness

2011-10-02T20:36:00.000-04:00

This is my entry for the challenge posted on the Penny Black blog yesterday. The winner gets to be a guest on the blog and wins some PB stamps. Isn't that awesome?

All the stamps on this card are from Penny Black. They are Happiness, To You, Flower Gallery, and Majestic Composition. The flowers and the butterflies were colored with Copic markers and a Faber Castel white pastel pencil.

My son has been home this weekend and I have enjoyed every minute. We've had a good time visiting with family and friends.

Thanks for stopping by!

Debbie

Happy World Card Making Day!

2011-10-01T07:48:00.000-04:00

I am having a wonderful week and I hope you are too. My son is home for a visit and we are going to spend today visiting family and friends. So just a quick post to say HWCMD!

The stamp featured is from Magenta and it was colored with copics and then a clear versamark pen and embossed with clear powder. The edges were distress with antique linen distress ink and then picket fence distress stain was added to the entire image.

The background panels were created using a Martha Stewart border punch.

The weather is perfect here. Our first day of fall weather, highs in the 60s and lows in the 40s. I am not sorry at all to say farewell to the heat and humidity.

Have a great day and hope you have time for some stamping fun!

Thanks for visiting!
Debbie

The Smallest Things Make Me Happy

2011-09-27T12:19:00.000-04:00

Happy Tuesday!

I have been trying to figure out how to print script around my card on the Silhouette and I was finally able to figure it out so I thought I would share that with you. I drew a box the size of my central design and selected a font and font size. I used the Elegant Script font for this card. I started typing the words at the upper left corner of the block. When I got to the edge of that line I grouped the box and that line of words together, flipped the design and continued to type across the next line. I continued to do that until the words wrapped completely around the box.

Then I ungrouped it and removed the box from the design. I didn't want it to cut, just print so I chose the "no-cut" option and chose a color for the font. I moved the design on the field so that it would print on the right side of the paper. Printed it, folded and cut the card stock to an A2 size card.

Next time I will either pick a central design without script or chose a font for the borders that is closer to the font on the stamp.

The Penny Black stamp was embossed with white embossing powder on the purple card stock. I used a white colored pencil to color the inside of the design and then colored over that using a combination of copics and colored pencils. I tried to be careful with the copics so that the white embossing was not colored.
The color of the flower didn't turn out very well so I stamped and embossed it again on the yellow card stock and distressed it with tea dye distress ink. Cut it out and layered it over the original one. Then applied some picket fence distress stain to the panel.

Has something put a smile on your face today? I would love to hear about it.

Thanks for visiting :)
Debbie

Dreams

2011-09-26T11:51:00.000-04:00

Happy Monday! Hope your week is off to a good start. I woke up early and finished up this card featuring a couple of Penny Black stamps.

The background was created by stamping Majestic Composition in Memento brown dye ink and coloring with Distress inks: Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed and Vintage Photo. Picket Fence Distress stain was used lightly in a few area around the edges.
The punch on the left side is a Lattice Chain large edger punch by EK tools that has been cut in half.
The Poppy Poem stamp is also stamped with memento brown dye ink and colored using Prismacolor colored pencils.
Had a few scraps of paper with distress inks on them and used those to punch out the butterflies.
The sentiment was created on the Silhouette. It's so nice to be able to create any sentiment you want in any size you need!

Thanks for visiting today :)

Debbie

A Pumpkin Pie obsession

2011-09-23T10:35:00.000-04:00

It's officially Fall and my thoughts have turned to pumpkin pie. It has been a stressful week and I found myself craving this comfort food and I gathered my ingredients and made myself a little treat. Turns out my hubby was cooking spaghetti for supper so we had the unusual combination of spaghetti and pumpkin pie lol!
I don't think I will be repeating that particular combination of foods but both were tasty.

This pumpkin card was created on the Silhouette and I thought the sentiment went along with my mood for the week.

Hope your week has been stress free and if not try making yourself a pumpkin pie, it just might help :)

Thanks for visiting!

debbie

A New Silhouette Skill

2011-09-18T13:50:00.000-04:00

Don't you love it when you learn something new? It gives me a sense of accomplishment and it just goes against that old saying "Old dogs can't learn new tricks". I am calling myself the "old dog". lol! Today I learned a new trick and wanted to share it with you.
I'm a little embarrased to tell you that until today I hadn't been able to figure out the advanced color gradient fill option. But I finally got it!! Yippeee!
This is the design used to create the colored panel on the front of the card.

I copied and pasted this border to make 4 panels and flipped two of the panels to create the front of the card as shown on the finished card. Before they were grouped together they were colored using the Advanced color option.

After coloring the panels they were grouped together to form a single design. Then I chose a card design and placed the butterfly border panel on the front of the card between the loops.

I made my sentiment using the Adorable font and colored it using the same advanced option.

The last thing I did on the Silhouette was offset the front panel of the card and cut it out in yellow card stock to highlight those white loops on the side.

Adhere the sentiment panel with pop dots, used some twine to tie and bow and added a Hero Arts pop dot for the center.

Thanks for stopping by but I'm glad you really can't see me because I'm still in my pjs :) Have a wonderful day!

Debbie

Fall is in the Air

2011-09-17T09:36:00.000-04:00

We've had a big weather change and there is a delightful coolness in the air. In celebration of the upcoming change of seasons I made this card.
This was created on the Silhouette and the die is "leafy fall frame C00332". I used the design twice in different sizes and used an advanced design fill color feature to color the leaves. Both frames were offset to add the cream edge around the leaves. Then the larger frame was offset to create the base card shape.
Antique paper distress ink and Glimmer mist were added to give some depth to the color. I created the sentiment using the text feature.
The weather is quite different from Thursday when I ate lunch at the beach..what a contrast.

Thanks for visiting!

Debbie

Beautiful Beach Day

2011-09-15T18:27:00.000-04:00

Went out to lunch with a dear friend today. We went to Wrightsville Beach and ate at the Oceanic and the food was wonderful. I had a delicious Lump Crab Cake, my absolutely favorite food, it was so yummy! And this was the wonderful view we enjoyed during lunch. Wish you could have been there :)

See you tomorrow with something crafty.

Debbie

So Sweet of you

2011-09-13T20:33:00.000-04:00

September was my month to lead our stamp club and this is one of the cards we made. The card base and white panel were made on the Silhouette. The flower is from Penny Black and was colored with distress inks and copic markers, a white colored pencil and uniball gel pen. The sentiment is from PTI.

This is card number two and it also features Penny Black stamps and a new EK Success punch that I just could not resist.

Just some simple stamping with a few embellishments.

I will show card number 3 soon. Its a cute little pumpkin card from the Silhouette stores, and I haven't taken a photo of it yet.

We have a great stamp club with about 9 members. We started meeting when we had a local stamp store and continued to meet after the store closed. We meet once a month and a different member leads the group each month.

I so enjoy visiting your blogs and seeing your beautiful creations in the flickr groups, it is like a huge internet stamp club and I feel like I have friends all over the world :). And as Martha would say "It's a good thing"!!

Thanks for visiting!

Debbie

Daisies

2011-09-09T08:11:00.000-04:00

I could have slept in today but my eyes popped open around 5am. Hate it when that happens LOL! Had this Northwoods image that I had stamped a few days ago, so in order to pass some early morning time, I did some coloring. This time I used Copic markers to color the butterflies and the background.

Added a little dimension by stamping the orange butterfly and again, cutting it out and layering over the base image with a pop dot. I used a craft knife to cut around the edges of the butterfly wings and placed pop dots under them. You can't see it as well on the photograph but on the card they look like they are flying right off the image.

So now that it's time to be up, I am feeling a little sleepy......Just might take a nap.

Have a great day!

Debbie

Butterfly Garden

2011-09-07T22:28:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post to share this Northwoods stamp image colored with Prismacolor pencils. The white frame around the image was created on the Silhouette.

Getting up very early in the morning to head out for a 12 hour shift. Hope you have a fun day planned and thanks for stopping by!

Debbie

Songbird

2011-09-07T09:06:00.000-04:00

Good Morning :)

Have another card to share featuring distress inks and a Penny Black stamp.

I inked the Songbird stamp first with Versamark frost ink and then applied two colors of distress ink over the versamark. Embossed the stamped image with clear detail embossing powder. Then covered the white areas of the image with a versamark pen and embossed those again with clear powder
The background was created with distress inks, shades of blues and yellows and then a layered of antique linen was added. I just dabbed the antique linen over the background and did that also on the white card stock used for the lattice punch and the card base.
Even though the bird and branch were embossed, they were fading into the background so I did a little distressing with white pigment ink and added a little white pastel pencil next to the embossed image. The last step was to mist with water.

The punch is from Martha Stewart and is scalloped on both sides but I trimmed the left side off to fit the card.

My husband thinks I spend entirely too much time on the internet....so he may not be happy that my friends Tanya and Jackie have introduced me to Pinterest. I resisted for a while but succumbed to temptation yesterday. It's going to be fun! Don't worry Larry, I'll wave at you as I go from computer to craft room. LOL!

Thanks for visiting!

Debbie

Penny Black-Simple Card Set

2011-09-06T06:29:00.000-04:00

The Penny Black Blog featured a tutorial by Jill Foster on Simple stamping. I love simple stamping!! So I watched Jill's video, then off to my craft room for some fun. Picked some bright colorful leftover pieces of card stock for the front panels. The stamps are all by Penny Black. I wanted these images to really pop so I used a pigment ink for stamping. This ink is Chocolate Chip by SU. I used a heat tool to dry it so I could put the cards together quickly. All 5 of these cards were done in no time at all. I did use a touch of a white pastel pencil on a couple of the images but that is all. Just stamped and assembled the layers. Makes me want to get started on Christmas gifts. I am posting a close up of each card below.

Thank you Penny Black and Jill for the reminder that Simple Stamping is a wonderful option!

Debbie

Supplies:

Penny Black

2004 2827K Songbird

2006 3360K Curlicue

2008 30-024 Enjoy

SU Chocolate chip pigment ink

And thanks to you for visiting :)

Colored Pencils, Debossing, and Masking

2011-09-05T09:32:00.000-04:00

Happy Labor Day!

More coloring with Prismacolor Pencils on the Penny Black stamp. The flowers were stamped on Tiara white cardstock with Memento black dye ink. Used pencils to color the flowers, leaves, and stems. I stamped the image again to create a mask, then stamped over the masked flowers with the script stamp, also from Penny Black. Cut out the shape with a Spellbinders Nestability. Then masked the flowers again and sprayed the panel with Glimmer Mist. The gray panel was also cut out with a Spellbinders die. I placed the floral panel on a soft surface and traced around the edge of the flower with a dry emboss stylus. Here's a little closer view of the embossing. It just adds a little extra dimension to the flowers.

The card base was made on the Silhouette SD using white paper and that was also sprayed with Glimmer Mist.
Woke up at 3am and couldn't go back to sleep, so I made good use of my time in my craft room. I'm almost finished with the card for tomorrows post. More Penny Black, some distress inks, and pastel pencils....

Have a great day, your visits are always appreciated :)
Debbie

Blue

2011-09-03T07:36:00.000-04:00

Jill Foster did an awesome video on the I Love Mementos site using Prismacolor pencils and a Northwoods stamp. Her coloring skills are fantastic whatever medium she uses. So I broke out my Prismacolor pencils to give it a try.

The white and gray panel shapes were made on the Cuttlebug using Spellbinders Nestabilities. I cut the front of the card more narrow than the back and added the two border to that edge. On the back inner edge I added a strip of the ribbon used to tie the bow. When the card is closed you can see just a tiny border of the ribbon.

Both stamps used on this card are from LaBlanche. The flourish stamp was inked with Distress ink and was stamped once before actually stamping on the white panel.

The colored pencils were fun and very forgiving. If there was an area I wasn't happy with, I just erased it using a white eraser and started over. Can't be much easier than that. Now if I could just do it like Jill does, I can dream, can't I?

Thanks for sharing a little of your weekend with me :)
Debbie

Autumn Bouquet

2011-09-02T11:03:00.000-04:00

Good Morning! I've been doing a lot of running this past week so I have been making this card in bits and pieces of time. I live 45 miles from work and around 40 miles from my dad so I spend a lot of time on the road. Today, I get to stay home. Nothing on my agenda but crafting and some Friday night football this evening. Happy Day :)

The bouquet and script background are Penny Black Stamps, the sentiment is from PTI. The green border on the side is a Martha Stewart border punch. The yellow vine was created on the Silhouette. The coloring was done with a combination of copics and distress inks.

I am leading my stamp club next week so I'm off to try and figure out what our project will be.

Thanks for visiting!
Debbie

Organizational Idea

2011-08-29T18:27:00.000-04:00

We were very fortunate and got through the Hurricane without any major damage. We had a short period of time with no electricity, but it was productive time. Didn't really have enough light to do much crafting but I was able to see to clean up my craft room and that was time well spent. It was a mess! LOL! While I was trying to organize a few things I came up with an idea for the foam applicators for distress inks.
I had been storing them in an acrylic box and they were all jumbled together. It would be wonderful to have each applicator with its own labeled wooden handle but requires more storage room and a substantial investment.
So this is what I came up with.

It started with a plastic palette for acrylic paints and a box of Scotch multipurpose fasteners. This comes in two large rolls and I cut a square to mount on the palette and placed the foam applicator over each square. There is adhesive on the back of the square, that made it super easy. This is a close up picture:

I typed the names of the Distress Inks printed and cut them out and laminated them. Adhered those to the palette using Glossy Accents. Now each foam applicator has its own special place. It was a happy coincidence that the palette size was just right for the number of inks I had. If and when I add to my collection I can just turn it over and add to the backside. The dimensions of the palette are 14.5" by 10", and it is lightweight so it will be easy to take wherever I need it. Now I'm trying to think of a way to add a nib for each color. Any ideas?

Now that things are back to normal I hope to get some crafting time in :) Thanks for stopping by!

Debbie

LaBlanche Stamp and a Hurricane Update

2011-08-26T12:07:00.000-04:00

My second card using a new LaBlanche stamp. I am more pleased with my backgound and coloring on this card. Still have a ways to go but I think a little progress was made. This card is emobssed also but I used a darker ink in combination with the versarmark and it shows up better. The coloring around the edge of the background was done with Old Paper Distress ink but the center blue area was done using a regular dye ink pad. Their card stock makes a big difference and it is so easy to apply the inks.

Last minute hurricane preps going on. Went over to check on my dad this morning and he won't leave home and come stay with me but he will be spending the night with his friends at the fire department. So relieved that he will not be alone. He grew up on the sound and has experienced his share of hurricanes over the years. He was telling me today when Hurricane Hazel made a direct here in 1954 the storm surge came up under their house and it was moving the floor boards. I can also remember as a child hearing how one year the hurricane and the storm surge took the porch off their house but it washed up enough lumber from the barrier islands that they were able to build it back. His house is all boarded up and he has even done a little hurricane prep for the birds.

He has bungee cords on the top of their feeder to keep it from blowing off.

If you are also in the path of this storm, get prepared and stay safe!

Thanks for visiting!!

Walking in Daisies

2011-08-24T12:10:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post to share a card I made with my new LaBlanche stamps. I like the way they stamp, they make a wonderful impression. I haven't had time to try any card stock other than their paper, but when I get a little time I want to do that. My first time I stamped it using a black dye ink and even though I dried it with a heat tool, it still ran in one spot when I misted it with water. This time I inked the stamp first withVersamark frost ink, then Tea Dye Distress Ink, applied clear detail embossing powder and embossed.

The images and the background were colored with a combination of distress inks and copic markers. I sanded the embossed area to decrease some of the shine and that worked until I heated it again after a layer of ink, and then the shine came back. Going to do a little playing around with that next time.

We are in the midst of hurricane preparations, so my play time is limited this week. We have been fortunate and haven't had a direct hit in a few years. I really think Irene is going to go east and just skirt the North Carolina coast but those sneaky old hurricanes have a way of changing their path when you least expect it.
So trying to get prepared for the possibility of no electricity. Sometimes it can take a week or more to get it restored. Also wondering whether I get to spend some extended time at work. If you are scheduled to work you have to come in ahead of time and stay until all is clear. The bad thing is you are away from your family but the good thing is there is electricity, hot showers, and hot food at the hospital.

We have experienced some crazy weather lately. We had 3 tornados in the last week or so and we hardly ever have them, we felt the earthquake from Va. yesterday and now the hurricane.

Better run, things to do! Thanks for coming to visit, hope you are having a great week!

Debbie

Silhouette Birthday Banner

2011-08-19T18:26:00.000-04:00

It's a Friday and I have the weekend off! Trying to tie up some necessary errands today so I can fully enjoy Saturday and Sunday. Summer is winding down and I find myself looking forward to those delightfully crisp autumn days.

I made this card a few days ago using two designs from Silhouette. I like to make birthday cards to have on hand....so you think I would be better about getting them in the mail. I have been terrible this year about getting cards out. I did post one card on facebook and said it was for all my facebook friends who had birthdays in August. Isn't that the laziest thing you ever heard? I am going to do better next year!
Am I the only one who has this issue? Will anyone else confess to something similar?

Back to the card. Here are the designs I used to make the card:

I printed the card in white.

On the Silhouette, I cut the teardrop edge away from the rest of the card and copied it 4 times and filled it with the different colors. Cut those out and layered them in a staggered fashion to the bottom of the card.

I changed the colors on the birthday banner, printed them and cut them out on the Silhouette.

They were adhered to the card using foam tape.

The next project I have to share is not a completed card. I was given a card with a beautiful quilt pattern on the front and I wanted to try and create that look on the Silhouette. I wasn't able to find the pattern I wanted in the online store but I did find this design:

And here is what I created by duplicating the design

I made the background by offsetting the quilt pattern and only cutting out the border. I cut that out in white and cut the design out in pp. Then ran it through my cuttlebug using an impression plate.

That is as far as I have gotten. Not sure exactly how I will use it. Have any ideas for me?

Did a little shopping today at "I Love Mementos". Have you seen the new LaBlanche stamps they are carrying? They are fantastic, can't wait for them to get here.

Have a wonderful weekend and thanks for visiting!!

Debbie

A Card Inspired by 3 Sites

2011-08-17T19:39:00.000-04:00

This card was inspired by 3 different blogs. The first thing that caught my attention was a post on Jackie's Blog Just Stamp It. Go over and take a look at her great cards that used the negative space from die cuts as her central image. I really liked that look along with all the white space and beautiful colors.

Then I made my daily early morning visit to I Love Mementos and saw Jill's 2nd video featuring LaBlanche stamps. She used distress inks and nibs to color the detailed images and they are amazing! I look forward to those videos with my cup of coffee in the morning.

Time to check in at the Silhouette online store to see what new die cuts they are featuring this week. Lots of wonderful new designs this week and this one caught my eye.

This set the wheels turning.
Cut the Silhouette design out on antique linen white card stock.
Cut it again, using a thinner card stock.
Opened the 1st card.Placed the 2nd card over the inner card so that the negative space of the 2nd card would be where the negative space on the 1st card would be when the card was closed.
Now I could use the second card as a stencil. I used distress inks to color the flowers and leaves, also to stamp the script over the image. I used nibs to apply the ink.
For an added touch of color I dabbed a little gelatos over the colored area and dried them with a heat tool.
Then I inked the Hero Arts script stamp and stamped the colored areas while the stencil was still in place.
So the color shows through when the card is closed and this is how it looks when the card is open.

Used my favorite Martha Stewart Butterfly punch and colored them with distress ink.
The sentiment was created on the Silhouette.
The bottom of the card seemed a little flimsy to me so I cut a strip of paper on colored it with distress ink to stabilize it some.

Hope you like the finished product. Thanks to the wonderful sites that inspired me.

Thanks for visiting and hope to see you again soon.

Debbie

Sparkly Poppies

2011-08-11T17:57:00.000-04:00

This is my very first card using digital stamps from Tiffany Doodles Stamps. I first saw these digital stamps on Tiffany Irvin's blog, It's the stuff I love. After seeing her wonderful creations I had to check them out. My first purchase included this poppy digital stamp and the common yellow throat birds. I printed and cut the two designs on the Silhouette SD and colored them with copic markers. The card base is a Silhouette design.

Don't you just love that little bird? Digital stamps are so versatile, you can make them any size and flip them so they are going in different directions.

There were two cards I saw this week that inspired this card and they were This beautiful card by Tanya and This lovely poppy card by Lin. I loved the dark with the bold colors by Tanya and Lin's poppies were so bright and beautiful. Thanks for the inspiration, Ladies.

Hope you are having a relaxing and inspired day! Thanks for visiting :)

Debbie

supplies:
Tiffany Doodles
Poppy w/oval
Common Yellow throat
Silhouette SD
label card C01049

Gelatos are fun!

2011-08-10T11:23:00.000-04:00

I went shopping at I Love Mementos and purchased my first Gelatos by Faber Castell. This card was created using white antique linen cardstock that I get from Marcos Paper and all the color was added using gelatos. I did finish it up by using a little dye ink to distress around the edges.

This is the teardrop circle doily image as purchased from the Silhouette online store;

I changed it to an oval shape. Drew an oval around this image, replicated it to the right, moved it so that the edge was slightly overlapping, welded it together and cut out the card base. I also drew an oval around the inner edge of the teardrops so that it would be a frame, with a cut out center.

I used the center that was cut out for my floral image. I chose the color of gelatos and then just scribbled them on the center and spread with my fingers to make the colored background. The linen card stock gives it a nice textured look. I did dry the colored background with a heat tool because I was doing a little embossing next and was not sure if the powder would stick to the gelatos or not. The stamp is a Penny Black stamp that I have from 2006. It was stamped with white pigment ink and embossed with white detail powder. I used a little of the dye ink to add distressing to the edges and also used a Tim Holtz distressing tool.

The edges of the card base were colored with a gelato and were also distressed. The sentiment is from PTI and I added a few punched butterflies.

Some of the tiny cuts on my Silhouette image didn't cut as well as I would have liked but I have a new blade on the way. That could have something to do with it, and I wondered if changing the shape might intefere with the cuts some...This card is also a size A2 card so some of those cuts were very tiny. I am pleased with the blade life. I got my Silhouette on black Friday and I have been cutting away since then, and that's a lot of cuts.

We are finally going to get a little relief from the heat, we will be out of the upper 90s back into the 80s. Looking forward to a break and just in time because our local high school football season is getting ready to start...Go Bulldogs!

Have a great day everyone and thanks so much for visiting :)

Light and Airy

2011-08-07T13:24:00.000-04:00

Bo Bunny makes some Fabulous papers and I love this pp with the green, brown and light airy white design. Paired it with this Happy Birthday card from Silhoutte.

I changed the size and shape to make an A2 sized card, and deleted the 7. Then I made a background to go behind the Happy Birthday and a frame for the front of the card and they look like this;

I cut all the layers out on the silhouette and layered them on the card base. I cut out the flower shape from the pp and mounted in the cut out center. I placed acetate behind the flower so that I could use pop dots and make it more dimensional. The butterflies were created using my favorite Martha Stewart butterfly punch.

That's all there was to this very quick and easy card. It's going to be fun changing the look of this by using different pps, colors of card stock and highlighting other designs or sentiments in the center.

Thanks for visiting with me this beautiful Sunday :)

Everything is just "Peachy"

2011-08-04T17:32:00.000-04:00

This card was inspired by Jenyfur's Post on the Penny Black blog. I love the way she brought her flower to life! The flower is a combination of Penny Black's Sundail stamp and a 3d flower image from the Silhouette store.

The background was created from this design:

The color scheme was inspired by a dozen roses I bought last week. They were just beautiful displayed in a cobalt blue vase. The flower image was embossed in white and the touch of color was added with a copic marker. The center flower was created and then the edges were touched with a white pigment ink pad and embossed with white powder.

The corners were made using a corner rounder punch and then placing the corners in then center of a border punch.

Hope everything is "just peachy" with you :)

Debbie

Just Married

2011-08-02T21:07:00.000-04:00

I made this card for a friend who is attending a wedding this week. The two designs from the Silhouette store were the "Bride and Groom" and the "Floral Arch".

We are watching for our first Tropical Storm of the season. Emily is out in the Atlantic and it looks like she might just brush by us. We could use some rain so it may be a blessing and a little break from the heat might be nice also. Just as long as she plays nice and doesn't turn into a nasty ole hurricane.

Thanks so much for visiting :)

Debbie

Butterfly Doily

2011-08-01T12:35:00.000-04:00

Good morning, Everyone! It's Monday, the start of a new and hopefully more creative week. I downloaded a couple of new designs from the Silhouette online store and used them together to make this card. Here are the designs I used:

The card base was created by offsetting the design, copied and pasted the offset, placed the two of them side by side and welded the edges together.

The design was printed and cut on 3 different colors of card stock.

The woodgrain flower was also printed and cut on three different colors of cardstock.

All that was left to do was to decide which colors to use for which layer.

The only thing that wasn't done on the silhouette was adding white to the center of the flower with a white uniball Signo pen.

I wanted to say "Thank You" to those of you who left encouraging words on my last post. I really appreciated them.

Thanks to all of you for coming to visit today!

Have you seen my creativity???

2011-07-27T09:45:00.000-04:00

I am putting out a APB, my creativity has run away!

I took the International board of Lactation Consultants Exam on Monday and I think the stress of studying for that has sent my creativity into hiding. I took a week off from work in order to study. During that week, when my stress level was high, I would take a break. Thinking that some creative time would help me de-stress. Then I would go into my craft room, sit and look at my supplies. I just got an order from "I love Mementoes" with wonderful goodies in it. You would think that would get my creative juices flowing, but NOTHING! More stress :(. So now I am stressed about the test and stressed because I am not able to create anything.

So the test was on Monday and I have a few days before I go back to work......still Nothing!!!

If you have seen my creativity will you please let me know the last place you saw it.....I need to find it :)

Thanks for your help and I hope to be back soon, when it has been recovered.

Card Camp Week 3 Sketch

2011-07-14T13:46:00.000-04:00

Kristina Werner shared 3 great sketches with us today at Card Camp. This is my first try at the arch shaped sketch. When I saw that shape it reminded me of an old building with an arch over the door and vines growing around around it and this is my interpretation. She also shared her digital files for the card with us which is wonderful for those of us with a digital die cut machine, like the Silhouette. For my card I chose a file from the online store. This wonderful arch with vine and flowers is just perfect for this sketch. I created all the arches and the card base from that design.
I'm not sure I've ever seen a red butterfly, but I was trying to stay with this weeks colors, so red butterflies it is. They were created with a Martha Stewart Punch.
The sentiment is a older Hero Arts stamp.

She is sharing tips on using words and letters on cards and that is great for me. That is an area where I struggle, so I hope you will be seeing some improvement in the use of them on my cards. Was getting short on time so I just stamped this sentiment. Promise I will try to do better.

It was 102 here yesterday! Was too hot!!!!
Keep cool and thanks for visitng!

Debbie

Silhouette SD design C00028 Arch Window Frame

Card Camp Colors Week 3

2011-07-12T16:10:00.000-04:00

My entry for this weeks color challenge.

Step 1. I made the circles and white and tan mats from a design from the silhouette store. I distressed the edge of the white mat by rubbing distress ink around the inner edge. The brown ring edge was also created on the silhouette. The white mats were adhered to the red circle base with foam dots.

Step 2. Stamped the Penny Black bird image on white card stock and cut out.

Step 3. The flowers were colored with a copic markers and a little extra color was added with a colored pencil. The coloring on the bird was done with the distress ink and a blending stump. Pearls were added to the center of the flowers and the bird's eye.

Step 4. The card base was made with kraft card stock. The edges were punched with a basket weave corner punch. Distress ink was added around the punched area and the edge of the card.

Step 5. The edge of the red and brown circles were distressed using a distress tool and the circular layers were added to the kraft base.

Hope you are surviving the heat and having some summer fun!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Debbie

A Little Bit of This and A Little Bit of That

2011-07-10T17:14:00.000-04:00

It started with some embossing, masking and markers, then came a transparency, dimension, the silhouette and "Happy Times" I had fun creating this card, it just flowed and each step came easily.

Step 1. Creating the floral background: I stamped the flower from Hero Arts on glossy card stock with white pigment ink and embossed with white embossing powder. I created 2 masks using the same flower and repeatedly stamped the image again using the masks. Each flower was colored with a SU marker and then the excess color was wiped away using a paper towel.

Step 2. Creating the frame: The frame was created on the silhouette sd and I chose to print some of the image rather than cut it all out. I also colored parts of the butterfly and flower images on the silhouette. I colored around the outside of the frame with a Copic marker.

Step 3. Creating accents and the sentiment: I chose the background of a floral image and a butterfly image to create accents for the card. The sentiment was created on the silhouette..this makes it very easy to have the right size to fit your design. The butterflies were colored, copied and pasted to make different sizes, and you can also flip them horizontally so that they are flying in different directions.

Step 4. The Dimension: I cut a piece of transparency (recycled from a package) to fit the frame and adhered it flat to the back of the frame. Then used foam dots to give it a lift off the floral background.

Step 5. the final steps were to make a card base and photographing the finished project. I anticipated a little glare from the transparency but it didn't turn out to be a problem.

I am pleased with the way it turned out. I wish I was feeling as bright as the card..I have been dealing with a sinus issue for over a week now and it is about to get the best of me. Hoping it will go away soon. Haven't been able to muster the energy to get dressed, or put make up on...but I have my priorities straight...made this card and got it blogged :). When I am feeling pitiful, I think of all the people out there who are dealing with chronic illnesses and major issues and I realize just how fortunate I am, so no more whining.

Hope all is right in your world and you are having a wonderful weekend!
Thank you so much for visiting :)
Debbie

Supplies:
Hero Arts CG309 Sweet Threads Cling Set
Color Box white pigment ink
Silhouette Sd images;
C00795 pretty_frame_butterfly
C00952 whispy butterfly
C00291 flowers
SU markers
Copic marker

Penny Black Circle Challenge

2011-07-08T18:57:00.000-04:00

Found some inspiration on the Penny Black Blog for circle cards and this is my attempt at one.

The layers of the card are cut out of antique linen white card stock using the Silhouette and adapting one of the patterns from the online store.

The card base is just a large scalloped circle. The next layer is a circle border that has a straight inner edge and a scalloped outer edge. This was colored with Broken China distress ink. Then I stamped parts of the lace-edged stamp all around the circle and embossed it. A little more color was added to the edges with wild honey distress ink. Then it was applied it to the card base with foam dots for dimension.

The floral image was stamped and embossed with white ink and white embossing powder and colored with distress inks. A little shading was added using a white prismacolor pencil. This layer was placed on top of a scalloped piece of white card stock and color was applied to the edge using distress ink.

Added the sentiment from PTI, a few pearls and some embroidery floss. The floss was white but I colored it with the wild honey distress ink . The colors would probably be a little more vivid on a different card stock but I like the linen texture this card stock provides.

The weekend is coming up but I will be working tomorrow. Hope you have wonderful plans for something fun!
Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate it so much

Debbie

supplies:
Penny Black Stamps;
Flower amongst Flowers
Lace-edged
Distress inks;
wild honey
shabby shutters
broken china
Color Box white pigment ink
white embossing powder
white antique linen card stock
Silhouette SD
white prismacolor pencil

Summer Card Camp Week 2 Featured Colors

2011-07-05T21:35:00.000-04:00

Week two of Summer Card Camp 2011 and this is the featured color combo

I have come to the realization that I design cards backwards. I love sketches but I never think to start with them, I usually start with my central image and design the card around it and that probably makes it harder than it needs to be. The central image on my card is a Hero Arts design in the Silhouette online store.

I cut the design out using pp from the Basic Grey Sweet Threads collection. I offset it in two colors, one for the flower and one for the leaves and stems. Then offset it again in white to make the colors pop against the kraft background.

I created two squares and cut them out of orange card stock for the frame. I also created the tag at the bottom by using a butterfly design by Silhouette, reducing it in size and drawing a rectangle between them. I drew another square around the white part of the tag, and cut it out of the pp. The sentiment was created on the Silhouette and printed when the butterflies were printed and then the entire image was cutout. All that was left was to add a few pearls.

How do you start your cards? Do you use a sketch? Is it all about the colors? Is the central image your starting point? I'm looking forward to hearing what your starting point is.

Thanks for visiting and hope to see you again soon :)

Debbie

Wrapping up an inspirational week

2011-07-03T09:40:00.001-04:00

This has been 1 amazing week in blogland! I attended the first week of Summer Card Camp 2011 and the I Love Mementos Blog started with the very talented Jill Foster showing us some awesome products and ways to use them. What is also wonderful is the products they show us how to use can be found very easily on their online store. How convenient is that!

This card came from inspiration received from both of those sites. I didn't have the exact paper that Jill used when she showed us her technique for coloring directly on stamps using the big brush markers and the color was fading out on the card stock I had so I switched over to a glossy card stock. The color comes out nice and bold but I found that you need to use a lighter hand when stamping and maybe not applying an over abundance of ink to the stamp. This stamp is from Penny Black and it is from 2003.

The doily around the stamped image is from Silhouette and it was a round doily but I changed it to an oval shape and added an oval to the center so it would be a frame that I could put around the flowers. Then I offset that doily cut out and made the yellow solid frame to go under the white. Then offset it one more time and copied it, welded the two images to make the purple card base.

The butterflies were made by just scribbling the big brush markers on the glossy card stock and them punching them out. Sentiment is from PTI. This is a go to set for me..these tiny sentiments are perfect for so many cards.

For those of you here in the US, Happy 4th of July!! Hope all of you have plans to do somethig fun this coming week.
Thanks so much for visiting!

Debbie

Loopy Window Card

2011-06-29T13:15:00.000-04:00

I almost gave up! I have been trying all morning to upload this card to blogger but for some reason it wouldn't upload. I uploaded it to flickr and tried to use the html code to upload it from there but it kept saying the code wasn't correct. I don't know what I did differently this time but it finally worked...

I made the card window on the Silhouette SD. This design was actually a 3d box that had a Valentine design with it but I ungrouped it, removed the box design and created a card around the loopy window.
The polka dot background was also created on the silhouette and is the same one I used on the Ferris Wheel card from yesterday.

The flowers are a wonderful stamp from Penny Black called "pin-striped" and it was stamped then colored with copic markers and cut out to go on the front of the card. Sentiment is from PTI and it is stamped on the inside of the card. The small butterflies were created with a new punch set I got that you first punch it and then place it in the second punch and it embossess it. Now I wish I had gotten the larger size, also.

My inspiration for this card came from 2 places...Summer Card Camp 2011 where I saw a great window card technique video by Jennifer Mcguire and the coloring of the flowers was inspired by Jill Foster. Jill is amazing with her bright bold beautiful colors. Maybe one day I will come close to achieving her look. If you haven't seen the blog I Love Mementos, you need to check it out. I am loving it!

I signed up for Summer Card Camp and am so glad that I did. Wonderful inspiration and I am getting to see some great creations by my fellow campers. Thanks to those of you who have stopped by and left comments, I'm off to visit some of you.

Debbie

Summer Camp-Ferris Wheel

2011-06-28T10:53:00.000-04:00

I am excited to be learning at the Summer Card Camp 2011 and this is my entry in the week 1 color challenge.

The colors are warm purples, orange and pink with a sky blue and white. I am having technical difficulties this morning and can't figure out how to get them on my blog after I downloaded them.
Everything but the sentiment was created on the Silhouette SD. I used 3 images for this card.

Ferris Wheel C02589
Background polka dot even 2466
Frame C02808

I had fun taking all the elements of the ferris wheel apart, some are colored on the silhouette and some were cut out of different colors of card stock. Glossy Accents were added to the cars on the ferris wheel and it gives them some nice dimension but it makes them hard to photograph. Too much light makes them too shiny and too little makes the colors look dull. I did have some help with the photography..

This little guy was out warming up in the early morning sun and he was still a little slow moving. I think he was more concerned with me stepping on him than the correct lighting for the photo.

Thanks for stopping by and if you are participating in Summer Card Camp I will see you over there :)

Debbie

Flourish Dot Birthday Greeting

2011-06-27T10:48:00.000-04:00

For most of you it is Monday and the start of another work week, but I worked yesterday so this week I am celebrating Monday. Working as a staff nurse in a NICU my schedule is never the same, some times I like that and some times I wish my schedule was more regular....maybe then I would be more organized...but maybe not. Right now the only thing that is constant in my home and work schedule is trash pick up day....isn't that pathetic?? So Wednesday is my constant. It is nice to have something to blame my lack of organization on.

My card today features Hero Arts designs from the Silhouette online store. The frame and the cake are the two designs used. The card background with dots is the same as the one I used on my last post "Summer Brights." This is a color combination I really like but don't use a lot. I get in color ruts, seem to always go to the same combos over and over again. Maybe it's because I crave consistency and since I don't have it in my schedule.........not a good excuse is it? I'll try to do better.

As you can tell I am feeling a little silly this morning :) giddy with the excitement of 3 days off and no meetings or errands that just have to get accomplished. Hope you have something special to look forward to this week and thanks for starting it out with me.

Debbie

Silhouette designs used
Card background C00952
Flourish dot tag C00994
Birthday cake C00961

Summer Brights

2011-06-23T17:09:00.001-04:00

I got 3 new designs from the Silhouette online store today and they are
Floral Filigree Hibiscus branch (added to store on 2-16-11) C00685
Whispy buttterfly (added 9-21-2009) C20090921105749 and
The card background (added 6-20-11) C00952

The floral design is on sale this week. It actually starts as two flowers but when I decided to use the card with the dots I only used one of the flowers. There was a little rearranging of the dots and the blue dot ended up being the perfect size and place to stamp my "Hello" greeting. Not because I planned it that way...wasn't thinking that far ahead. The butterfly was a cut design but I ungrouped it and colored the two pieces. It was printed onto the card and I cut another of each of the butterflies to layer for added dimension. SOOOO easy!
The heat is oppressive here and that gives me an excuse to stay in a cool house and have a little fun creating.
A friend of mine told me that she was in the yard with her 4 year old daughter and she told her mom she was "melting water". Don't you love how children's minds work? Sounds so much better than sweating.

Hope you are enjoying perfect weather....for right now I'm staying indoors :)

Thanks for visiting :)
Debbie

Versatility

2011-06-20T17:29:00.000-04:00

This is one of the very first designs I downloaded from the Silhouette online store. I have run into a few issues when I have tried to cut it out using a size small enough to fit on a card. Some of the smallest intricate cuts did not come out well. Decided to try again using the print and cut feature.
I started with this design and used the ungroup feature. I separated all the layers except the designs on the butterfly. Then I colored the individual layers, changed the line color to black and brought it to the front of the design.
Then I brought this next image to my workspace.

I colored the image on the silhouette and used the knife to cut it so that it would fit into the frame of the first design. I drew a rounded rectangle around the image with just a little of the butterfly frame extending over the edge. Before sending to the silhouette I changed the cut lines so that only the outer edge would be cut.

Finishing touches were a little shading with a few copic markers, two punched butterflies, a few gemstones and a sentiment from a Hero Arts clear set.
And the finished project turned out like this

I did do a little debossing around the printed design just to add a little dimension. You can really see the difference it makes on the actual card.
So what I learn everyday about the Silhouette is how versatile it is. I feel certain the design would cut just fine if it was cut larger, but I am delighted to be able to find a way to make it work to suit my needs.

Thanks for stopping by it makes my day :)
Debbie

Single Layers with Dimension

2011-06-16T10:59:00.000-04:00

I will be sharing 3 cards with you today. They are all one layer cards and all were made on the Silhouette SD. The first card uses 2 designs from the Silhouette online store.

The card was shown as a square and designed to be cut as two layers. But for my project I changed it to a rectangular shape and colored the layers instead of cutting them. The butterfly was colored and moved on to the one layer card. The Happy Birthday sentiment was created with a font from the online store and printed instead of cut. After printing out the card I traced around the designs with a dry embossing stylus to add dimension.

This cake on this card is from the Hero Arts portfolio in the online store

All the coloring on the card was done on the silhouette. The score lines were created on a Martha Stewart score board and I also traced around the elements of the design with the embossing stylus.

Here is the design as seen in the online store

The design that you start with is the bottom one. You have 3 butterflies and then you can duplicate them and change the size in order for the border to fit your card. I cut one of the butterflies away from the others to create the larger one at the top of the card. Some tracing with the stylus and a few lines on the scoreboard and it makes the design pop.

If anybody ask me "If you were stuck on a deserted island and you could only take one crafting tool, what would it be?" my answer would be "There better be electricity because I'm taking my Silhouette!" It just does it all!

Thanks for spending a little time with me today :)
Debbie

Wedding Inspiration

2011-06-14T18:19:00.000-04:00

We attended a beautiful wedding last Saturday. The groom, a graduate of the Naval Academy married his childhood sweetheart. They have been together since the 8th grade. The bride and the groom come from lovely families who happen to be wonderful friends of ours. I wanted to make a card that was inspired by their wedding and this is the finished card.

Totally inspired by the bright summery colors they chose and don't you just love those shoes??

The details in the wrought iron, the windows and the chandeliers inspired the stained glass background on the card.

And here is the lovely couple enjoying their first dance as man and wife. I chose to do their silhouette in all white since both the bride and groom are in white.

No inspiration for the card in this photo but had to share a picture of some dear friends :)

All elements on the card are made on the Silhouette SD. The detail added to her dress is a stamp by Penny Black called butterfly edge. The sentiment on the tag was done on the silhouette.
I have been playing more with the print and cut feature on the silhouette and will have some of those cards to share with you tomorrow.
Thanks for stopping by!
Debbie

Silhouette "Cut" to "Print and Cut"

2011-06-11T12:09:00.000-04:00

If you have visited lately you know that I am infatuated with my Silhouette SD. Jackie from "Just Stamp It" ask me if there was a way you could change a Silhouette cut design into a print and cut. Couldn't wait to play around and see if I could figure it out and so I decided to post a little tutorial about how I did it.

This is the cut image as it appears when downloaded from the Silhouette online store.

This is the finished product.
To start I opened the image and clicked on the ungroup setting so that I could color the sections differently. Below is how that looks on the screen when it is "ungrouped."

Once ungrouped you can just click over on the side and all of those little boxes highlighting each individual section go away and this is what you have

I have started highlighting each individual section and selecting a color from the "Fill" section.

This is a shot of the line color screen and I have changed the lines to black.

This is what I learned and it is very important. I went to the line style window increased the thickness of the lines and clicked on the section to "bring the line forward". Before when I have tried to print I didn't use this feature and the lines never showed in the printed version. So you got the colors and the shape but it was flat looking and no definition to each individual section. So Thank you, Jackie! If you hadn't sent me that question I don't know how long it would have been until I figured this out.

When your image is all colored and printed and you send it to the Silhouette to cut it shows up like this. You have to go the the "cut type" and select cut edge only.

And this is how it looks when it is ready for the Silhouette to cut it out.
If you are interested in learning more about the Silhouette and would like to see more tutorials you can find some from the experts at the Silhouette Blog. And another look at the finished design all printed and cut.

Oh, there are so many ideas running around in my head, right now LOL! Maybe there is too much empty space there. You could use this technique to make one layer cards that wouldn't look one layer at all. Hope you are inspired to give this a try. And, Jackie I hope I have answered your question.

Have a great day everyone and thanks for stopping by!
Debbie

Fun Trips

2011-06-03T14:55:00.000-04:00

We just got back from a little trip in our state of North Carolina so I was thinking of trips and made this little scene from elements on the Silhouette SD. Below you will see the original designs that I bought from the Silhouette online store. This is how they looked when I began to work with them.

I worked with the balloon and clouds first.
1st step was to ungroup the balloon and clouds.
Then ungrouped the balloon image in order to color the elements separately. After it was colored as desired it was copied and pasted in order to cut two images to give it dimension. Then I ungrouped the colored image and chose details to copy and paste so they could be cut out individually. It might be hard to see in the photo but the balloon has 3 different layers created by using dimensional foam tape between layers. It looks like a dimensional sticker you could find in a store without the extra cost.
The clouds were copied and pasted, changed to different sizes, colored differently and flipped horizontally so they would not all be going in the same direction. I wanted color around the edges of the clouds so I used the offset feature, minimized the amount of offset and filled it with a different color.

Was going to show a few more photos of the different steps but blogger is a little slow today with uploads.
The senitment was made on the silhouette with one of their fonts. I created each letter individually, so that I could potition them along the top of the hill. I offset them in white and cut each word separately. You could print that into the original design if you wanted to and not cut them out.

We just celebrated out 24th anniversary and our trip was a last minute idea. Just a few days out of town to get away from the daily routine. The first excitement was about 50 miles away from home when a huge black bear (estimating around 450 lbs) came out of the woods and started to cross the road in front of us. I have never seen a bear that big. Wasn't able to grab the camera quick enough to get a picture. We had nice sunny weather but it is HOT! around 97 degrees on Tues. Way too early in the year to be that hot.

June is also the month that I started working as a NICU nurse. 35 years this June. Where has time gone? I was 23 when I started so I have done this more than half of my life. Lots of reflection at this time of year.

Hope you are someplace cool and having a great day. Thanks for stopping by :)
Debbie

Make it Your Own

2011-05-26T08:56:00.000-04:00

Good Morning Everyone.

I chose 2 Silhouette SD card images to make this card. The label on the front comes from one design and the white loop panel comes from another one. The sentiment "You always know just how to make me smile" is a clear stamp from Hero Arts. I cut it apart and arranged it on a clear block to fit the white oval. Then added the "Thanks". The flowers are from Memory Box.
I am pretty comfortable with cutting apart my clear stamps now. Not so much, when I did it the first time, but it really gives them so much versatility. I do wish someone would make a set of vertical clear stamps. hint hint.

So many wonderful ideas out there and it is so much fun to play around with them and add your own personal touch.
Have a great day and thanks for visiting because that always makes me smile :)
Debbie

CAS-Bling

2011-05-22T13:44:00.000-04:00

A little entry for the Bring the Bling challenge at the CAS-ual Fridays Blog. I wanted this to be one layer only but I didn't like the way the sentiment looked at the bottom so I had to stamp it again on a different layer. I know I should have just started over but I couldn't bring myself to toss the card.

The flower image is from Penny Black and the sentiments are from Hero Arts. The stamped was colored with markers, spritzed with water and stamped on the card. The edge of the card was cut with a Martha Stewart border punch and the embossing around the other sides was done with the Martha Stewart score board. The last step was to add the bling on the punched border and to the small flowers.

Have a wonderful day and thanks for visiting!

Debbie

Debossing

2011-05-20T09:42:00.002-04:00

All images including the sentiment on this card were created on the Silhouette SD. This is the image it all started with.

This is the design that created the floral grouping on the card. I duplicated it several times to make the flowers. Then I used the little individual petals, colored them green and used them as leaves.

This is how it looks right out of the printer. So I decided to add some script and cut it out into a card shape. After doing those steps, it needed a little dimension so I added that by coloring with a white colored pencil around the edges and debossing. These are the tools I used for the debossing.

That is a dry embossing stylus but I chose not to use a light box and I traced around the outline of the flowers with the stylus so the image is de-bossed instead of embossed and below is a close up of that detail.

I think it adds a nice little touch and keeps the image from having a stenciled appearance.

I made this card after visiting the Less is More blog and seeing their challenge for the week. Decided I would play along...what do you think is this Clean and Simple? It is one layer. Does the debossing count as embossing? I hope so. Go over and take a look at all the other wonderful entries.
Thanks for visiting.
Debbie

A Brighter, Bolder Look

2011-05-17T17:10:00.000-04:00

I just had to try it again with more color :). Added a few butterflies and didn't use buttons. I can't tell you how many color versions I have gone through trying to come up with one I liked....This has been an all day event!
I don't know how the rest of you come up with something new and wonderful everyday, but you do and I am impressed.

It has been a good day, a traumatic weekend behind me, things are looking up. Nothing major just a bunch of little things and sometimes they just get the better of me. But its a new day and I'm coming to see what you have been doing. Thanks for visiting!
Debbie

Flower Doily Card

2011-05-15T15:58:00.000-04:00

Joining in on the challenge over at Our Creative Corner. The challenge is to use a monochromatic color scheme using only neutral colors and add lace and buttons. I struggled! I am going to do this design again using bold colors.

The lace doily background was created on the Silhouette SD. I created the card base and the dark background by using the offset feature. The floral stamp is from Penny Black and the sentiment from PTI.

That's it for the crafting portion of this post.

Warning: Nature's Ugly Side

I have been traumatized today but not nearly as bad as a poor bluebird in the neighbors yard. I heard the bird just fussing and fussing and saw it flying by a bird house over and over so I went over to check it out. I got close to the bird house thinking I might see some babies but when I looked in I saw a Snake! So I knew what ever was in the bird house couldn't be saved but I was afraid the mama would try to go back in to the babies and the snake would have her too. I knew as long as I was standing there she wouldn't fly in. I saw my neighbor and called out for him to come over to help. Sure enough the poor babies couldn't be helped but that hateful snake won't get any more babies and the mama is okay.

Hope your day has been creative and fun without any drama.
Debbie

All Penny Black

2011-05-13T16:56:00.000-04:00

This is my attempt at a tall card. It features a wood block stamp and a clear set from Penny Black.
The bird image is called "nature's day" and the clear set is "to you". The flowers in the background are actually a bouquet of flowers I stamped right side up and then again up side down. The large flower at the bottom is also from the clear set but I only used the front portion of the flower.

I have decided I am using my silhouette way too much. The reason I believe that is a dream I had last night. It was all about trying to figure out how to do something on the silhouette, and I struggled and struggled with it. Can you believe it, even in my dreams I am trying to figure it all out!! LOL! But unless they come up with a Silhouettes anonymous I am sure I will be back at it shortly.

Thanks for stopping by
Debbie

Walking through Gardens

2011-05-10T11:39:00.000-04:00

I have a couple of cards to share with you today. The first one is colorful and features a Penny Black stamp coupled with a Silhouette design. The silhouette flower frame was originally done in yellows and I changed it to the colors seen. I stamped the wonderful little girl image in the center and then colored it to reflect the floral frame. I had 2 of the frames so I cut out a few of the flowers to add to the flowers that the birds are carrying.

The next card is also a Penny Black stamp that is just lovely. This is done in a monochromatic color scheme. I was hoping to get it done to add to the NSD challenge they were hosting, but didn't get it finished in time. It features 3 of their new stamps and the Hero Arts envelope pattern stamp.

I think I have inspired myself to go outside and spend a little time enjoying nature today. Hope you have time to take a walk through a garden.
Thanks for spending a little time with me
Debbie

Penny Black Monochromatic Challenge

2011-05-08T13:41:00.000-04:00

The Penny Black Blog is hosting a challenge in honor of National Scrapbooking Day. The challenge is to use Penny Black stamps with a monochromatic color scheme. Their design team has posted some wonderful cards, so be sure you go over and check them out.
I paired up a couple of my new Penny Black stamps with a design from the Silhouette SD for my card. The white doily design was round to begin with but I changed it to an oval shape. Cut it out in white and then used the offset feature to create the blue background. Then I offset that shape and duplicated it, moved them close together and used the weld feature to create the white card base.
The flowers and the butterfly were stamped on the blue card stock, embossed and cut out. I did use a white colored pencil to add a little shading.

Happy Mothers Day to everyone!
Thanks for sharing a little time with me
Debbie

1st CAS-ual Fridays Challenges--Pick Me

2011-05-06T09:49:00.000-04:00

I am participating in the first ever CAS-ual Fridays challenge and it involves using text and "clean and simple". I just recieved this wonderful Penny Black stamp and wanted to use it with text so started trying to decide which text stamp to use, but I didn't have one that seemed appropriate so I decided to make my own text. So I used my microsoft office to create this Pick Me Script which seemed appropriate for the flower and the challenge. I created 2, one for the background of the flower and one that is printed directly onto the bottom of the card....less layers. Colored it with copic markers and added a sentiment from PTI. It doesn't get more simple than that.
Do you think they will take the hint and "Pick me?" LOL!!!

Have a wonderful day, thanks for visiting!
Debbie

Making Cakes without Baking

2011-05-02T11:41:00.000-04:00

This is my favorite of the cakes I made this weekend. This original design was a wedding cake but by removing the flowers that come with the design you can decorate the cake base however you like. You can also change the number of layers. I won't detail all the steps but if you have any questions please leave a comment and I will get back to you. After removing the flowers I used the ric-rac design to decorate the layers and filled them in with 3 colors. The dots are added with Glossy Accents. The larger flowers are also from Silhouette but the smaller ones are a Martha Stewart Punch. All the sentiments on each card are from Hero Arts. They are all from clear sets and were cut apart in order to have them fit the space like I wanted.

This cake looks like it has fondant icing on it to me. Most of the flowers were added in to the original cake on the silhouette after adding the color to the layers. I also used the ric-rac design again. The dimensional flowers are Silhouette designs.

My final cake to share today. This one was made with less layers and the package border decorating the layers is the same one I used last week on the birthday card.
That's it for today, saving a few more to share with you later.
Have a great day! Thanks for stopping by :)
Debbie

Print and Cut II

2011-04-27T08:12:00.000-04:00

I'm like a child with a new toy....Having so much fun using the "Print and Cut" feature of my Silhouette SD.
I keep thinking of things to try, and so far the Silhouette hasn't let me down. Sounds like a commercial doesn't it? But I am completely unsponsored. Wish I did have something to disclose :).

On to the card. The font was filled with a gradient color design and then the letters in each word were grouped together, then offset, and cut out. When I offset the grouped letters the offset first showed up in the gradient color so I changed that color to white. The color on the edge was added with a copic marker.
The package border at the bottom is a design in the online store but I did change the colors to match the colors in the font. Thanks to Kaylan for her helpful comment on my first print and cut, it worked great!

If you have a silhouette and haven't tried this feature yet.....do it! It's wonderful!

Have a fabulous day and thanks for visiting :)

Debbie

First Print and Cut

2011-04-25T13:56:00.000-04:00

I have a confession....I have been afraid to try the "Print and Cut" feature on the Silhouette SD. Now that I have given it a try I only have one question.....What was I waiting on?????

Read a little bit in the user manual, downloaded a few designs and it was really easy. The Silhouette Blog has about 23 print and cut tutorials and I can't wait to check them out. When I was doing this great floral design I was wondering if you can change the colors they use. If anyone knows the answer to that I would love to hear from you. The border is also a silhouette design. The sentiment is from PTI and the background for the sentiment is a Spellbinders Nestability.

Today is my daughter-in-law, Anita's, birthday. Happy 30th Anita! When they were just here for a visit we had some fun making cards and I am putting together a card making starter kit for her. Not giving away any secrets, she knows that is what I am doing, she just doesn't know what goodies she will find when the package gets there. It's a lot of fun to put this together.

Hope you are having a great day. Thanks for stopping by!
Debbie

Digital Die Cuts

2011-04-24T13:22:00.000-04:00

Happy Easter everyone. I had a wonderful surprise this morning. I was scheduled to work this holiday and census must be down because I received a call saying I could stay home. I am on call, so hopefully I will get to stay home all day, but if not, it has provided some much needed rest.

This card is made with a combination of 4 Silhouette designs, pp from Memory Box, and the sentiment is from PTI.

Last week was very busy, but the coming week looks a lot better and I plan on visiting all of you. Thanks for stopping by.
Debbie

Silhouette Quilt Cards

2011-04-19T21:37:00.000-04:00

This is fun! I made 2 more quilt cards using the Silhouette SD. I used the same pattern and did it in different colors. The flowers are from the silhouette online store. There are four different flowers in this set but I only used two of them. I re-sized them and then drew a rounded square around them. Arranged the 9 squares and then drew a larger rounded square around all of them. Then simply cut it out in all the colors of pp I wanted for my quilts. You could do all the items separately, but when you do it this way the layers are inset and not layered on top of each other. The flower centers are the only things that are layered and those were created with a circle punch.

Not only is this fun, it is Easy!! Looking forward to seeing what other designs they have that can be used to make quilt cards. For those of you who are quilters they do have fabric interfacing so that you can cut fabric.
I took a quilting class about 20 years ago and really enjoyed it, maybe this will inspire me to try it again, but I like instant gratification and this delivers!

Have a wonderful day!
Debbie

Magenta Fold Inspiration

2011-04-18T17:27:00.000-04:00

I found inspiration and the directions for making this fun fold card on the Magenta Blog. The flower images are from Magenta and the sentiments are by Hero Arts. It was a little challenging to photograph and keep the front to back of the card in focus. That should give you some idea of how limited my photography skills are. The strip along the top and the bottom are from the Hero envelope pattern stamp. That is one versatile stamp!
I did take a photo from the side to show the folds more clearly.

The tag on the rear fold is a Silhouette design. I would love to have a silhouette die cut for those flowers. The butterflies are from a Martha Stewart border punch.

The rest of my week is going to be very busy so I made myself relax today. I took a quilt out into the yard, under an oak tree and enjoyed the beautiful sunny, warm, breezy, day. Camera by my side, just in case a butterfly flew by or the deer came out into the field. It was quite relaxing.

Thanks for sharing part of your day with me.
Debbie

Joy Quilt Card

2011-04-17T12:59:00.002-04:00

This quilt card was made using a single flower design from Silhouette SD.

This is the design from the online store. I re-sized it, then copied and pasted it until I had enough flowers for the quilt design. I moved them until I had the quilt pattern and then used the welding feature to weld them permanently together.

Once this was done I used the offset tool to create a background to put the quilt pattern on. I did this on blue card stock on the card.

To make the card base I used the offset shape, enlarged, copied and pasted it, and welded the two shapes together.
The last part was to create the thin "quilt edging". I used the original size offset shape, copied it and changed the size slightly, then repeated that step.

The sentiment is from Hero Arts and is actually just a word from the sentiment "find joy every day". I masked off all the words but "joy", inked the stamp, removed the mask and then stamped the word. I punched the word out and placed it over the center flower in the quilt design. Added Hero Hues Dots to the center of the rest of the flowers.

It's a beautiful day today, quite different from yesterdays tornadoes. We were lucky and missed any of the destruction but it was widespread across North Carolina. We don't have tornadoes very often and they were everywhere yesterday. I don't think I have ever seen that many in one storm system. I'll take a hurricane any time. At least you get plenty of warning and can get out of harm's way. That is unless you are a nurse and then you just go to work.

Take care and enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Debbie

Leaf Flower

2011-04-13T15:49:00.001-04:00

There have been so many great home made flowers on everyone's blogs lately and Tiffany's beautiful flowers yesterday inspired me to try my hand at some. I chose to make my flower with one of the new digital Hero Arts Die Cuts. The leaves were cut out, in two sizes, using the Silhouette SD.

Each leaf was placed on a foam pad and I rubbed them in a circular motion using the round end of a QuicKutz Quickstik. This breaks down the fibers in the pp and gives them some dimension.

For the finishing touch I rolled under the edges on the leaves, layered the smaller leaves over the larger ones to form a flower. The center of the flower is a Silhouette design and it is finished with a Hero Hues Dot.
I made the card using one of the April sketch designs on the Hero blog. The card base was made on the Silhouette by drawing two ovals of the same size and then welding them.
The patterned paper is the Kioshi collection by Basic Grey. All stamps are by Hero Arts.
I think you could use these digital leaves and fold them in the same way Tiffany did her flower petals and that would be pretty too.

We had stamp club yesterday and made some cards for Operation Write Home. Frances did most of the work by having all the cards designed and each person had a kit with all the ingredients to make a particular card. The next couple of pictures are some of the group and a picture of some of the 50+ cards we made in 2 hours.

This is Libby, Frances, Nancy, Ann and Tammy. We were missing a few of our group.

Didn't Frances do a great job with the designs?

Have a wonderful day and Thanks for visiting!
Debbie

Dancing With Flowers Die Cut

2011-04-11T19:14:00.000-04:00

I couldn't resist getting this new Hero Arts die cut. This is such a pretty silhouette with a happy feel to it. The background and the silhouette "Dancing with Flowers" were cut out of Basic Grey pp using a Silhouette SD die cut machine. I stamped over the cut out design with Versamark ink and embossed using clear embossing powder. Tea Dye distress ink was rubbed over the edges of the design.
Two strips were cut from pp the same as the background and then I stamped a design using Antique Linen distress ink. The sentiment was stamped with Tea Dye and the corners were rounded on the bottom strip.
The flower is a Silhouette SD design called 3d ruffle flower and the center is a Hero Hues Dot.
I am planning on entering this in the Hero Arts sketch challenge for April.

So far we have gotten our living room and spare bedroom painted and I am ready to take a little time off from the painting world. Both rooms have softer colors that look fresh, clean and restful. I think I will spend my time in those rooms and ignore the rest of the things that still need to be done, lol! I really need to paint my craft room but the idea of moving everything in there is very overwhelming. One of these days.......

Have a great day, thanks for stopping by and as the card says I'm sending smiles your way :).

Debbie

Hero Stamps
CG266 Dancing with Flowers
F5318 Starburst
CL490 Sending Smiles
Silhouette design
3d ruffle flower

Shiny and Soft

2011-04-08T16:21:00.000-04:00

Hope everyone has been having a wonderful week. I made this card a few days ago and have been trying to get a decent picture of it and it has been difficult to photograph. There is lots of embossing that looks beautiful in person but it mades it hard to capture the true colors and the shine at the same time. So I gave up and the photo above captures the colors and the photo below shows off the shine.

The card and the bird with swirl are Silhouette SD designs. The card above the circle border was stamped with the floral background stamp with versamark frost ink and embossed with detail clear embossing powder. The bird and swirl were cut out with the Silhouette, colored with a copic marker, covered with the versamark ink and embossed with clear powder.
The bold flower stamp was inked first with versamark frost, then worn lipstick distress ink and embossed with clear powder. The center of the petals was colored with a copic marker. Then I used a versamark pen to go over the colored areas and embossed with clear powder. I embossed the circle border in the same manner. The dots in the center of the flower were created by placing a drop of glossy accents in the middle of each small circle and sprinkling glitter over the drops.

The stamps are from Hero Arts CG301, CG303, CL489.

It has finally warmed up again and it is so beautiful. The dogwoods are in full bloom, the azaelas are starting to open up and we had enough rain to help with the pollen issue. So fresh and new looking. I guess that is what has inspired me to paint inside my house. I've gone paint crazy. I bought paint for the living room and painted part of the wall only to find out that my choice in colors wasn't really working. SO, I painted the spare bedroom and it worked great in there. Back to Benjamin Moore today and two more gallons of paint and I will try the living room again tomorrow. This color has to work because it won't work anywhere else in my house and they do not give paint away!!! I thought paint was the cheapest way to freshen up but I obviously hadn't bought any paint lately....Sticker shock!! I love to paint. I don't love prepping to paint but I love rolling and brushing that new color on the walls and I am not a patient person so once I get started, I want it all done. Larry does do the trim work for me so that helps and I tell him daily how lucky he is that he has a wife who enjoys painting...don't want him to forget how good he has it.

Have a great weekend, it's painting Saturday and work Sunday for me :)
Debbie

Magenta Sketch Entry

2011-04-01T09:28:00.000-04:00

My entry for the Magenta Sketch Challenge. I liked the clean lines of the sketch design shown below. It says simple elegance to me.

The flowers are part of the latest release from Magenta, isn't it beautiful? It was stamped using Memento Summer Sky dye ink. After stamping I used a versamark pen to highlight the flowers and the frame around the rectangle image and embossed with clear detail embossing powder. This gave it a little dimension and added just a touch of a cream color to the blue and white.

The background is the Hero Arts envelope pattern design embossed using Versamark frost ink and clear ep.

A touch of color was added around the edges by rubbing the summer sky ink lightly with my fingers. I also embossed over these edges.

The top and bottom of the rectangle image were created using the Silhouette SD. It is actually a bird cage design and I altered the size of the design so that it would fit the rectangle and cut out the cage portion of the design. This is the entire design.

I was talking with a friend yesterday about card styles. I enjoy making all kinds of cards and using many techniques but I think I am happiest with my cards when they have lots of white space. White with a subtle tone on tone or white with bold pops of color, such different looks but both are great.

What's your style? Which of your cards are you happiest with?

Hope you are enjoying a beautiful day! Watch out for those April Fools Day jokes :)

Debbie

Peaceful Garden

2011-03-30T08:15:00.000-04:00

This card features one of the new Memory Box stamps that I found in the Ellen Hutson online store. The sentiment is by Hero Arts and the Butterflies and background design are by Silhouette.

The blooms were embossed with white ink and embossing powder on Neenah white card stock. The color was applied with distress inks. I applied ink to a clear acrylic block and used a watercolor pen to pick up ink and color the image. To add some spots of darker color I applied some water to the ink on the block, picked up some with my finger and rubbed over the colored flowers. It's hard to see in the photo, but a little sheen was added by spraying the flowers with white Glimmer Mist chalk spray.
The butterflies were cut out on the Silhouette and were colored using the Glimmer Mist chalk spray.

The Hero sentiment was stamped on a rectangle piece of card stock and the corners were rounded. The Gorgeous Bloom stamp comes in 2 sizes and I stamped the smaller one around the edge of the tag.

Have to leave my peaceful garden to go get my teeth cleaned. Hope your day is filled with only pleasant things.
Debbie

Necessity the Mother of Invention

2011-03-25T11:15:00.000-04:00

I stamped this flower from MAGENTA with dark brown ink on white card stock and colored with copic markers.

It looked a little flat to me so I cleaned the stamp and inked it up again with Versamark frost ink, stamped over the first image and embossed with clear embossing powder. I hope you can see in the next picture that it gave it some sheen and dimension to the outline of the flower and leaves.

Now is where the necessity and invention part come in. I cut the flower out using the Silhouette SD...this time I messed up! There was a tear at the top of the paper and it ended up inside the scalloped oval shape. Had to get rid of the top of the scalloped oval so I cut off the top of the oval in a straight line. Cut out the two oval shapes again in white card stock. I stamped the scallop oval border with the envelope pattern stamp from HERO ARTS. Then I came up with the idea to make this a pocket card. I backed the lower part of the image with dimensional foam tape. Stamped a sentiment on the top portion of a smaller scalloped oval and cut the bottom portion so that it would fit in the larger scallop. Stamped a portion of the envelope pattern stamp on the bottom. Stamped a flower from the Magenta stamp, cut it out and added it to the tag. And this is how it looks when you pull the top out.

How about you? When you mess up, do you just toss it or do you try to find a way to fix it?

Off to spend the weekend with friends at the beach. Our weather has been delightful lately, highs in the 70s and 80s.....this weekend highs in the 50s and rain. Doesn't it figure? Hope your weather cooperates with your weekend plans.
Debbie

Magenta Flowers

2011-03-23T11:32:00.001-04:00

Good Afternoon. Hope it's a great day for you. I've been having some fun doing some paper piecing with another wonderful new flower from Magenta. Ellen Hutson is carrying some of the new images from Magenta's new catalog.

I stamped the flower image 4 times, twice on white card stock, once on green and once on "Flamingo Double Dot" Bo Bunny pp. Copics were used to add some shading to the leaves and the center of the flower. The borders and the flourish were cut out on the Silhouette SD. The large butterfly is from Memory Box. If you haven't seen them yet they have some beautiful new releases for the spring. The small butterfly punches are from Martha Stewart.

I have the day off and it's beautiful here. The only slight issue is an excessive amount of pollen. I am not complaining. I think of all the people,in the world, who are facing major issues. So many just trying to survive and I realize how blessed I am. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing I hope you too are blessed with peace, happiness, good health and hopefully a little time for stamping.

Debbie

JOY!

2011-03-21T12:25:00.000-04:00

I love this sentiment from Hero, it reminds me that whatever the day brings you can usually find some joy there if you take the time to look for it. My son and daughter-in-law have been visiting since Thursday and it has been wonderful, so good to see them :). I have introduced Anita to the joy of cardmaking and I think she is hooked on it. She has made some great cards.

I found a little time this morning to make this card using a new flower stamp from Magenta that I found over at Ellen Hutson online store. If you are not familiar with Magenta, they are a stamp store in Canada that has great stamps. I am so excited that Ellen Hutson is carrying some of their products now.

I stamped and colored the image. Ran it through the silhouette sd to cut a frame. After the frame was done I stamped it with the Envelope pattern stamp and then put the stamped center back in place. This made it be one layer and fit together like a puzzle piece. Usually I would have just layered the frame over the center image, but I like this look better.
Stamped the image on the side...the joy of clear stamps...you can put them anywhere without a stamp positioner. All that was left to do was punch the little butterflies from BoBunny pp using a Martha Stewart Punch.

Going to spend the rest of the day enjoying spending time with family. Have a great start to your week and thanks for visiting!
Debbie

Luscious Bold Flowers

2011-03-13T14:27:00.000-04:00

These bold flowers are truly Luscious and you can find them in the Hero Arts 2011 Spring Catalog. The white card and yellow border were created on the Silhouette SD. The card is called "Decorative Frame Card" and it was a new release the week of March 8th.
I cut the card once in white antique linen card stock and again in the Bo Bunny Buttercup Dot pp. Stamped and cut out the flowers and used my bone folder to curl up the edges for dimension. Used some foam tape between the flower layers.
Stamped the "Happy Birthday" on white and layered on Bo Bunny blue pp. Added foam tape behind that for dimension. Another quick and easy card.

Hero Arts
CG303 Luscious Bold Flowers
CG286 Three Leaves
CL490 Sending Smiles Messages
Silhouette Sd
decorative frame card
Bo Bunny pp

I hope wherever you are this weekend you are safe and happy. What a week this has been. So many people all over the world whose lives have been changed forever and my heart goes out to them.
I am thankful that you are able to and have chosen to spend a little time here.
Debbie

Chalk Inks

2011-03-08T06:28:00.000-05:00

I haven't played with my chalk inks in quite a while and I was happy to see that they are holding up quite well even though I got them years ago.
This card was very easy to make. I embossed the floral background stamp on white card stock using white pigment ink and white embossing powder. I applied the color to the flowers by rubbing a small piece of felt on the chalk ink pads and then applying the ink to the embossed image. I did add a little color with a yellow marker to the yellow flowers and the center of the pink ones. Stamped the sentiment, punched it out in a tag shape, a little ribbon and a few pearls are the finishing touches.
If you haven't used chalk inks before they have a "chalky" dull image after they dry but you can rub a dry soft cloth over them and it brings some shine to the finish.

I am looking forward to seeing my stamp club friends today. This will be the first meeting I have been able to attend this year and I have missed seeing everyone.

Hope you have a great day and thanks for sharing a little time with me.