A bit of pink and a shabby rose

Wow did that week ever go by fast. I can hardly believe it will soon be the 4th of July. It seems like I just got all my spring garden work done. Oh, that's right- I did just finish that, didn't I. Well the best of the summer is yet to come and now I can sit back and just enjoy it.

Today's card is using one of my homemade flowers made from a strip of designer paper folded in half and then scrunched and twisted- shabby, don't you think. I hot glued it to a circle piece of paper to be used as a base and then I could use it when I wanted. I certainly don't have the time to be making the flower as I make the card. I find that if I spend an afternoon or evening making a bunch of flowers to supply my stash it makes the card making process a bit easier. It might also be the design element that gives me the idea for the color scheme of my card. Isn't it amazing how one little piece of paper, ribbon or button can be the spark that creates the idea for the card. I just love it when that happens. I am amazed each and every time. See, it doesn't take that much to amaze or amuse me.

The designer paper is by GCD Studios which was a 6x6 pad of paper I found an odd lot store. I had never heard of this company but I liked the patterns, so for $2 I thought I would see what I could come up with. I found the seam binding on an Etsy site and I just love it. I bought about 20 different colors and it was only $.30 a yard. Needless to say, I have a small fortune tied up in seam binding since I figured I might not be able to find it again- so I stocked up.

Here is a close up of the flower. I sprayed a bit of glimmer mist on it to give it a bit more color. I believe it was Tattered Rose since that is the bottle that is sitting on the outside of the shelf. The velvet leaves were from Michaels in the bridal section.

Darn- should have cleaned up the bit of glimmer mist that got on the button. Oh well, I guess that is what makes it shabby.

It looks like it is going to be another beautiful day here. They are promising thunderstorms later today, but I'm not holding my breath. If it happens I will just accept it as a wonderful surprise. I have been keeping my eye out for the humming birds. I haven't seen much of them this year. Maybe I should just get a nice tall glass of iced tea and sit out on the deck to keep a watch for them. Sounds like a plan. I hope you can come up with a similar excuse to relax.

Take care and enjoy!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the men out there. Not that any of them are reading my blog, but I thought it would be gesture of kindness none the less. It's the thought that counts-right. These are the Father's Day cards I made this year. I used the new Tim Holtz embossing folder clock parts and some Graphic 45 tags. I colored the brads and dew drops with my Copper Copic marker. I love how you can get coordinating embellishments from a marker. Looove my Copics! A year ago you would have never heard me say that. I dug my heels in and said there was no way I was going to get started on those markers because of the expense and the number of colors they offer. I could see a small (OK large) fortune investing in a new addiction. I finally broke down and the rest is history- all 108 of them. And that is nothing compared to some of the ladies I stamp with.



You can see the embossing a bit better on the image below. I also pulled out my all time favorite Label 4 Spellbinders. The color scheme is pale yellow, black and burnt orange but the yellow sort of faded with the sunlight. You can click on any of the images for a larger view.

Here is another version with the same products. The three tags are actually straight by it looks as if I had a few too many margaritas while making this one. Must be the angle of the camera. Yep definitely the camera angle.

We are planning on a quiet day around the house. It will be gorgeous sitting outside today. I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get the thunderstorms that were promised yesterday. I swear- how many jobs could you still keep and be wrong so many times. The weather people have it made. Don't they realize the anticipation they create when they say it is going to rain and the let down when it doesn't. I also have been trying to juggle the sprinkler system around their hit and miss forecasts. Oh well, the sunshine was just as nice, only I have to pay for the watering of the grass and flowers.









I hope you all have a great week. Nothing big planned for my week. Let's hope it stays that way. Cooking out every night and an evening on the patio will suit me just fine at the end of a work day.


Have fun and enjoy!

An altered book

Well it is finally here- My altered book of doors. It is hard to believe this was once a children's hard cardboard book. Altered takes on new meaning here when you can't even see a hint of what it once was. I sanded the pages a bit since they are very shinny and I wanted to make sure I had good contact between my sticky tape and the paper. For the cover I used Distress picket fence crackle paint and then rubbed Distress vintage photo and antique linen ink over it to give it a vintage feel. You can easily use paper for the cover. I printed the sentiment off the computer and the beautiful flower is from Prima.

I had mentioned that I want to make another book with actual pictures of doors that I had taken on a recent trip to Duke University but I decided to use one on the cover from the door of a little building that was out in the courtyard of a bed and breakfast we stayed at in Savannah, Georgia. I edged it with a Martha Stewart punch as I did on almost all of the pictures inside. The images are postcards that a dear friend Kay, had given to me. The number of cards fit the number of pages exactly and it was if it were meant to be.

All of the inside pages were covered with paper. I kept my color pallet in the greens so it would compliment the foliage and flowers. I didn't want my paper competing with the images. I then layered the images on the different papers to see what paper enhanced the image the best and then I decided which two sets went together so I could place them side-by-side in the book. A little bit of thinking in the beginning but after than it was just a matter of getting into my embellishment stash and deciding what I wanted to used and which page I could incorporate it into.

I picked up a package of Heidi Swapp overlays on sale at the Mega Meet in Novi last month and now I wished I had grabbed a few more. I used almost the entire package in this book. You will notice them as they are the clear and black images. Of course I had to have a bird and a crown or two.

The one above are my favorite pages only because of the cottage style of the roses. Notice the crown above the door on the left. The clip on the edge of the page was actually metallic yellow but I colored it with my copper Copic marker.

I had this tongue depressor and decided to use it as a tag for my sentiment. The burgundy scallop above the image was actually a left over piece from a border after it was punched. I thought it looked like a valance so I used it along the top of the picture. See-never throw anything away that looks useful. I colored the metal flower with my copper Copic and I used a spanish olive Copic marker on the butterfly

Not that crazy about the last page but I thought the corner overlays looked cool. This was the project that I taught at our last month's stamp club. Everyone really enjoyed it. The ones that haven't altered anything before, were a bit intimidated at first. I think they really appreciated having someone to walk them through it to get them started. I had purposely bought some very small books for those who just thought they could never do a project like this. A larger book can be a bit overwhelming at trying to figure out how to fill the page. If that is the case with you, get a 3x3 book to start with. It will be something that you can tuck onto any table or shelf in the house when your are done.

Well believe it or not, I still have some more work to do out in the gardens. We went to a family wedding up in Traverse City, Michigan last weekend so I didn't get anything accomplished at home. It was a beautiful outdoor wedding and it was nice to spend the weekend my extended family. My DH and I went to a winery owned by one of his distant cousins. It was located up on a bluff over looking the lake. It felt as if you were up in the clouds looking down- absolutely breathe taking. The wine wasn't bad either.

Have fun and enjoy!

A bit of distress

No nothing is wrong here on the home front and I have been the picture of health, (unless you saw me trying to walk after spending 3 days bending in the gardens pulling weeds). Sorry for being MIA for so long. The days have just gotten away from me lately. I had promised you pictures of an altered book but I haven't had time to edit the photos. Instead I am sharing with you a very large altered tag measuring 4" x 8.5". I used three different ATC stamps from the Tim Holtz line and some of the new distress colors- wild honey, Victorian velvet, bundled sage and a bit of chipped sapphire. I added some distress stickles here and there for a bit of bling. The grunge board butterfly was painted with worn lipstick distress crackle paint and then I rubbed vintage photo distress ink over it so the cracks were more pronounced. All of the embellishments are from the Tim Holtz line except for the two paper flowers which are Prima.

Mother nature has been helping me quite a bit lately by keeping my new plants well watered. Along with that came some really great thunderstorms. For those of you who know me, you know how much I enjoy a good rumble of thunder and a good bolt of lightening is an added touch. After a weekend of hard labor in my gardens it was very relaxing to sit on the porch and watch the storms roll in. On Sunday I made the mistake of drinking iced tea all afternoon to help with the hot temperatures we had. I woke up at 4 o'clock and was wide awake so I got up and surfed the net for awhile. When I saw that it was getting light enough outside, I headed out to plant some new rose bushes. I had them all in by 6:30 am. It was so peaceful and quiet with just the sound of the chirping birds. Just when I finished- a flock of about 50 geese flew over the house and they were so low that I could hear the flapping of their wings. It was truly a beautiful morning. It is an awesome thing when you can enjoy the simple things in life.

I can't believe all of the new Cuttlebug products that are out on the market right now. I bought the new 5x7 embossing folder called clock works and I used it on my Father's Day cards. It was a perfect fit with the masculine Graphic 45 papers. I really like these larger folders in that they don't leave a blank edge around the outside. Now I just have to figure out how to store them. My other smaller ones are in the pockets and storage case that came out when the Cuttlebug first hit the market. Maybe they will start making larger pockets.

Well I still have plenty to do around the house. I am excited to have my friend Carol home so we can get some serious stamping done together. I have really missed her this winter. I promise I will get the altered book loaded next week.

Have fun and enjoy