Snow glorious snow!

This is a photo layout I created from photos of friends having fun in the snow. I used Spellbinders Nested Pine Trees and added dimension by embossing them with Spellbinders Diamond and Stars Impressabilties. I also added lots of snowflakes created with Spellbinders Create a Flake Two.

Excitement in the air!

My blog is spotlighted on Spellbinders' blog today featuring my little video tip on positioning of the die templates. Wooo hooo! If you haven't seen it yet, scroll down and take a look. It will make your life easier. lol

Today I want to show you a project I did for Spellbinders in September.



I created a project to encourage looking at all the blessings in our lives and doing some fun activities together to reinforce the feelings of love and appreciation in a family. I used Spellbinders Nested Maple leaves.

I used an empty Laughing Cow container, inked it up and covered it with paper, a few leaves and ribbon. I've typed up the blessings and activities found inside so you can easily duplicate my project.

Thanksgiving Countdown

Thanksgiving Day brings to mind the blessings in our lives that usually go unnoticed.
On each of the enclosed leaves is a blessing and activity. Remove one each day leading up to Thanksgiving Day. Doing the activity will help you recall some of the blessings in your lives.


We are thankful for our teeth.
Give mom and dad some of our
Halloween candy in exchange
for a gift.

We are thankful for our legs.
Go outside and run and jump!

We are thankful for our cousins.
Call or write a letter to one of your cousins.

We are thankful for our kitchen.
Cook or bake something fun
together in the kitchen.


We are thankful for good food.
Go to the grocery store and pick out
a food that you haven’t tried yet.

We are thankful for Turkeys!
Art Project: Make paper turkeys.

We are thankful for giving hearts.
Think of something fun to give
someone in the neighborhood.

We are thankful for Daddy.
Do something nice for daddy and
be extra nice to him all day!



We are thankful for Mommy.
Do something nice for mommy and
be extra nice to her all day!

We are thankful for the seasons.
Go on a bike ride and enjoy
the beautiful weather.

We are thankful for our brothers.
Do something nice for them and be
extra nice to them all day!

We are thankful for our sisters.
Do something nice for them and be
extra nice to them all day!

We are thankful for our house.
Play a cleaning game.

We are thankful for each other.
Play a game together.

We are thankful for our hands.
Art Project: Finger painting.

We are thankful for our eyes.
Watch a special Thanksgiving show together.

We are thankful for our ears.
Play some fun music and dance.

We are thankful for books.
Go to the library and pick out some
Thanksgiving books.



We are thankful for pies.
Make or buy a pie and
deliver it to someone.


We are thankful for our grandparents.
Call grandma and grandpa and tell
them you love them!

We are thankful for Heavenly Father.
Go on a nature walk and notice all
of Heavenly Father’s creations.

We are thankful for our friends.
Make a special visit to some friends.

We are thankful for the computer.
Send an email to someone you love.
Send them some pictures of your family.

We are thankful for all of our toys.
Donate some of the toys you haven’t been
Playing with to a charity.

We are thankful for our car.
Go on a special outing of your choice.

Grateful Heart

I wanted to share this Thanksgiving card with you. I created it to send to some special people so I had to make it larger so I would have enough room to write my thoughts. I still ran out of room, but I got most of my gratitude in it.

The card base is a red card measured to fit a legal size envelope, with the brown mat behind it. I used another piece of brown and then a piece of striped designer paper, cut/embossed with Spellbinders Deckled Mega Rectangles. I added machine stitching around the edges. On that is mounted a Spellbinders oval of Always Artichoke cardstock which was embossed with the Flowers Impressabilities. The JustRite image was stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa ink and colored with Copic markers before being cut/embossed with Spellbinders Standard Circles. I colored the embossed edge with a Copic Spica pen and mounted it onto a Scalloped Circle cut from Real Red Cardstock. I added some square jewels and a rich chocolate satin ribbon with two loops on the left side.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.

Velveteen Poinsettia

I love this Spellbinders Poinsettia die, especially when it is cut/embossed using Velveteen paper. Unfortunately, I can't seem to capture it in the photo. I also embossed it with the Spellbinders Snowflakes Impressabilities. I've included a close up of the flower and you can see that embossing a little better.
The center is a brad from The Paper Company. I cut the holly leaves out and slipped the Spellbinders Labels Four die underneath to do the "out of the box" technique. The sentiment and holly leaves are stamped with craft ink and clear embossed. The outer embossed edge is colored with a Copic Spica pen, as are the holly leaves. The bg dp is from Basic Grey' Figgy collection. I also stamped a snowflake onto the sentiment panel to tie in the dp.
Thanks for dropping by.

My first instructional video!

Hey look! I figured out how to put a video on youtube and on my blog! I'm so proud! I'm not very techno savvy, so I am pretty impressed with myself. Okay, enough patting myself on the back. Take a look at my little tip!



A few of you have said you wanted to see the card I created using the tip in my video. Well, here it is!

For this card, I inked the JustRite stamp with markers before stamping. After stamping I used a watercolor brush and some ink to color the leaves pink. Using the video tip, I cut/embossed the stamped image out perfectly using Spellbinders Large Oval Die Template. I then used a Copic marker and the airbrush system to add some light color to the panel. I cut/embossed a regal rose scalloped oval to back the sentiment panel. I added a little airbrushed copic to the ribbon to add some of the deeper rose color to it and used a glue dot to adhere it. The dp squares are 2 ¼” and they are backed with regal rose 2 ½” squares. The green panel is 1 ¾” X 5 ¼” with borders of 1/16th of Old Olive. I embossed the green panel with the Sizzix Happy Birthday folder and added a bit of ribbon. The card is white but I used ”Mini Cosmic Swirl” template from The Crafter’s Workshop to mask before airbrushing with two shades of pink Copic markers. I backed the whole card with a regal rose panel. The stamp is from JustRite’s Thinking of You set.

If you want to see just how close I could get the cutting using my tip, click on the photo for a close-up.

Products Used:
Spellbinders Wizard
Spellbinders Large Oval Die Templates
JustRite Thinking of You set
Copic Markers: RV11, RV14, airbrush system
Stampin' Up! Regal Rose, Rose Red and Old Olive inks, Cardstock: Regal Rose, White, Always Artichoke, dp also in Regal Rose and Certainly Celery. Certainly Celery and Pretty in Pink ribbons.
The Crafter's Workshop Mini Cosmic Swirl template

Thanks for stopping by. I would love to know what you think of my first video!

Mailable too

Here is another easy peasy card for my girl's class.


Stamp image onto white cardstock using Brown ink. I used colored pencils to color the leaves and berries on border of the image and the gingerbread man. Cut/emboss image with circle die template. Cut/emboss red scalloped circle. Adhere image circle to red circle. Emboss front of card with snowflake embossing folder. Tie ribbon around front of card near the bottom. Use foam squares on back of circle and adhere to card front on right side, over ribbon. Carefully apply small bits of Candy Cane stickles to berries and to buttons and cheeks. Be very careful not to smear them. Ask me how I know! lol Set aside to dry!

I hope you like this little cutie. Thanks for stopping by today! Make it a great day!

Do you like to color?

It seems there are many people that like to color images. If you are one of those people, this card is for you!

Stamp image on left side of card front near fold. Color image with colored pencils or markers. Cut off right edge of card with scallop scissors. Sponge edge with Blue ink. Stamp sentiment on inside edge of card as shown. Adhere card to blue cardstock. Another simple, mailable card.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week!

Another Christmas card

Here is a Christmas card I wanted to share with you today, another I will be doing in a class with the eight young girls. It is a fairly simple card, which makes it good for mailing and mass producing, if you have a mind to.

Punch holes in card front near left folded edge and top of card. Ink pine bough stamp with green inkpad. Carefully stamp it with the stems between the holes you punched, then, without re-inking, huff on it and stamp it again away a little bit, with the stems touching. Ink berries stamp and stamp it twice, as shown. Ink sentiment stamp with red and stamp it near bottom of card, under boughs. Emboss right side of card with snowflakes embossing folder. Thread ribbon thru holes from front, cross ends and put ends up through holes to front of card.

See, I told you it was an easy card, but I think the results are lovely. What do you think?

Sticker

Today's card features a sticker. Now I have a lot of stickers here in my craft room, but rarely reach for them when I begin a creation.

I used the Cloud 9 Design flower sticker in the center, mounted it onto vanilla cardstock. I outlined the inside of my Spellbinders Nested Poinsettia die template with my red marker before cutting/embossing in the Wizard. I really like the mottled look it gave, instead of the very opaque look lining it later would give. It's a little softer. I added candy cane stickles to the center of the flower and curled the edges a bit over a marker. The red poinsettia was cut/embossed/impressed with the Spellbinders Snowflakes Impressabilities. It is mounted with a foam square, and the petals curled slightly. The navy oval was also cut/embossed/impressed with Spellbinders Petite Ovals Large and Snowflakes Impressabilities. The dp is by Kaiser scrapbook and mounted onto real red before being adhered to the blue card front. I added a little Christmas plaid bow and DONE.

I hope you like it.

Emboss, emboss

This card shows an interesting technique I've heard called a few different things: selective embossing, double embossing or blank embossing. First of all, I cut an opening in two pieces of chipboard (a cereal box) and glued those two pieces together. I used Spellbinders Labels 3 die template. Now to the embossing: I found this sandwich worked best for me in the Cuttlebug. A plate, B plate, cardstock in Cuttlebug folder, cut out chipboard on top of folder and then another folder (that design will not affect your final product) - another B plate was too thick. After embossing it, I carefully placed the Labels 3 die template and ran it through the Wizard to emboss the Labels 3. So basically what you are going for is a flat (unembossed) area surrounded by embossing. It's hard to really see in the photo, but it is there. You're gonna have to trust me! ;-) The butterfly and sentiment are stamped with Memento black ink and clear embossed. I used Spellbinders Fancy tags to back the sentiment, and mounted the whole card front onto black cs. I added the ribbons and bow to the top and voila.

What do you think?

Welcome to my blog!

Hi there! Thanks for stopping by. I love having visitors and I love reading your comments. So leave a comment - please!


Today I am sharing a Christmas/Holiday project I will be teaching 8 young girls in an upcoming class. I think they will enjoy making them, don't you?

Snowflake Sandwiches: These fun little snowflakes are hiding a little Peppermint Patty. Yum!

Using Bashful Blue ink, stamp image onto white cardstock eight times. Carefully align punch with the stamped image and punch out all four images. Use very small amount of icicle stickles on center and on small dots on outside of center snowflake on only four of your images. These will go on top. Set these aside to dry. Be very careful not to smear, as it takes several minutes to dry. Glue one scalloped circle on top and one on bottom of mint patty.

Have you tried this?

On this card, I wanted to use the Fancy tags to back my image, but the image was too tall. I also wanted to use the deckle rectangle for the image, but it wasn't quite the right size. What to do? Alter the dies, of course. Remember that you can alter the nesties to be different sizes and shapes by making just a few adjustments. This one is easy and I want to show you what I did. First of all, I cut the image with the Deckled Rectangle Die with the image to the far right.


Now I needed the image panel to be thinner, so I put the image into the die again, with the edge cutting off part of the previously cut panel. I taped it in place to be sure it didn't slip.

Here is the result - a longer, thinner image panel with deckled edges all around.
Now I wanted to use the Fancy tag to back my image panel, but as you can see, it is a little too short.
An easy peasy fix, just cut the fancy tags in half and adhere it to the back of the image panel. It won't show and only you will know.

To finish my card, I used a scalloped circle which is embossed with Cuttlebug's Textile Texture folder. I added my image panel, backed with my altered fancy tag, ran a bit of ribbon around the card front and tied a knot. I used EK Success border punch for the bottom of the card front, punched another strip of black cardstock and adhered that to the inside of the card. See the little embellishments on the top corners? That is the leftovers after the black panel was punched.

Here are the Spellbinders supplies I used on this card:
Spellbinders Fancy Tags die template S4-235
Spellbinders Small Deckled Rectangles S4-201
Spellbinders Scalloped Circles Large S4-124

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,
Karen