Dad- Altoids Tin

Well this is all I could manage to post today. I am having a few problems with Picasa and my photo albums. I added several images but only a few are showing up. Very frustrating and I still have some thank you cards to make so I will have to do some more trouble shooting later on.

I painted the back and outside edges of this tin with a gold Krylon paint pen and covered the rest with designer paper adhering it with ATG tape. A few embellishments and there you have it. I had the best time making these little gems. I also made two Christmas ones that I hope to get uploaded for you.

I am going to try to get ready for the holidays a bit early this year so I don't feel so stressed. I plan on decorating the tree and making my Christmas cards Thanksgiving weekend. I actually bought a few gifts today for my staff so I can take that off my list.

I don't make Thanksgiving cards to don't hold your breath on seeing any posted here. This week I am going to teach our stamp club how to make a Tee-Pee card. It will be decorated for Christmas so it will look like a Christmas tree when we are done. It also makes a cute ornament.

Tomorrow we are supposed to get a bit of snow. It sounds like a good day to stay in and get cozy.


~have fun and enjoy!

Graphic 45 Botanical Tea

...begin with you! I just love this sentiment. It can have so many meanings which I won't get on my psychology soap box. But for this card I see it as happiness begins with yourself.

I used SU Lost Lagoon and Pool Party card stock. The designer paper and rose panel are from the Graphic 45 Botanical Tea line. The seam binding is SU Pool Party and the sentiment is from the SU Petite Pairs set. I punched out the sentiment with the SU medium Oval and then layered it on pieces punched out with SU Curly Label and Modern Label.

 

 

 

 I will try to get the altered Altoids tins uploaded next week. I still need to load the pictures onto my computer from the camera. We took a trip to Scottsdale, Arizona two weeks ago and I have been trying to get caught up at work which doesn't leave much energy for getting caught up on things around the house. It was part work and part vacation. We rented a house rather than a hotel so when I came back from the hospitals I could relax in the sun and pool. The weather was wonderful-sunny and in the mid to upper 90s. We drove up to the Grand Canyon and I have to say that it is a sight to be seen and pictures will never do it justice. This has certainly been a summer of crossing things off my bucket list.

 

 

~Have fun and enjoy!

 

 

Graphic 45 Botanical Tea

 

 

 I hope you all had a great weekend. I have been very busy altering Altoids tins for an up coming class that I am teaching this week. I will share those with you after the class. Today's card is shabby chic. I used papers from the Graphic 45 Botanical Tea 8x8 pad. This line is great because it has designer paper and several pages of panels that can be cut apart for tags, which is what the pink rose is. The sentiment was created with SU's Curly Label punch and Modern Label punch. I think we sometimes forget how we can get such a different look by layering two different punches. I then used the Medium Oval to puch out the sentiment from SU Petite Pairs. The ribbon is also from SU which is Pool Party seam binding. This card took me all of 15 minutes.

 

 

 

 

The DH and I went out for diner Friday night and then to the movies to see The Judge. Is it possible for a middle aged woman to have a crush on a movie star? I have seen several Iron Man movies with Robert Downey Jr., but let me tell you, it wasn't until The Judge that I would have put a poster of him on the wall if I thought I could get away with it. That was one hot guy in this movie. I guess what is even more appealing is how he has turned his life around. You go RD! Oh and by the way, the  story line was great and I highly recommend it. Five stars from me.

 

~have fun and enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A little bird's nest

 

 

 It's Friday eve and one of my most favorite nights of the week. I thought I would get a post in before my favorite TV shows start. My weekend will be spent in my stamping studio making sample cards with some of the new Stampin' Up Christmas stamps. Later this month I will be teaching a class on altered Altoids tins at our stamp club so I need to make some samples for that as well.

This is a card that is all Stampin' Up and was very fun to make. I especially liked the nest which I used twine to make it look more realistic and to give the card more texture. I started out by embossing the Crisp Cantaloupe card stock with the Framed Tulips embossing folder. I cut the designer paper to fit just inside the embossed frame. The border was created with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon punch on Strawberry Slush card stock and the I layered pearls over the top. The stamp set for the nest and branch is from the Take Care set and the flowers are the Petite Petals Mini set punched out with the Petite Petals mini punch. I used twine to make the nest more realistic. The sentiment is also from the Take Care set and I punched that out with the Ticket Duo punch. The ink is Melon Mambo. For some reason the Strawberry Slush ink seems more red to me than the paper so I went with the Melon Mambo.

 

 

Well Grey's Anatomy is ready to start to I gotta run. My ultimate favorite show is Scandal and comes on right after Grey's, which I am so glad has moved up an hour. At least I stand a chance of not looking so bad on Friday mornings now that I can get that extra hour of sleep. At least that was my excuse.

 

~have fun and enjoy!

 

A few scraps

 

 

 

 

This card was created with leftover pieces from a previous card. I tied it all together with the flowers and scroll work. I am terrible for saving all my scraps but look how nicely it turned out. I have gotten better and now I only save the larger scraps. I must admit, my scrap drawers were getting pretty ridiculous. I have a rolling cart that has 6 drawers. One is filled with white scraps, one is cream, a  pink & black,  a yellow/orange/brown, a blue & green,  and a red/purple/metallic drawer. It sits right behind me and it is within arms reach so when I need a scrap it is right there.  I hate to waste paper but something had to give so now I toss out all the little scraps begrudgingly.  

 

The designer paper is All Abloom from SU. The card stock is also from SU and is Lost Lagoon and Barely Banana. The flowers were from the $2 bin at Michaels. I cut out the leaves with a Sizzix die called Branch w/Leaves and the scroll is Elegant Scrollwork from MemoryBox. The sentiment is from Just Right called Seeds of Kindness. The yellow panel was embossed with the Cluster Set embossing folder from Sizzix.

 

 

 

 

 

It has been a wonderful summer watching the twin fawns growing up and learning the survival methods they will need as they they continue to grow. They come to the yard daily and and they have now lost all their spots. We have also had a pair of cardinals that have raised their young in a nearby tree. I didn't realize how big of a role the male plays in raising the little ones. He feeds them and teaches them how to fend for themselves while the female starts laying her second brood of the summer. It is comical to see the young bird who is almost as large as the parents begging for food. We also have four turkeys that come almost daily. One tom and three hens - must be quite a fella cause the ladies sure seem to like him.

~have fun and enjoy!

Colored pencils

 

 

 

 

Friends- they certainly make the world a better place. For those of you who know me, you know I am not one to use my colored pencils very often, but when I got this new stamp from SU it screamed pencils. It is called Corner Garden and I was drawn to the shades of purple. It turned out better then I had expected. I a sentiment from Jillibean soup by Hampton Art called Handwritten Sentiments. There are several nice ones in this set. To fancy it up a bit I used the border punch from MS called Deco Fan and then added some rhinestones. After I had finally finished coloring the flowers I noticed a smudge and I was heartsick, but being a long time stamper I knew exactly what to do. I covered it up with the butterfly which is a Memory Box die cut called Pippi Butterfly.

 

 

 

The pencils I used are Prismacolor and the colors I used are below.

 

PC934 Lavender

PC956 Lilac

PC1008 Parma Violet

PC932 Violet

PC1096 Kelly Green

PC988 Marine Green



Another great weekend is almost over. I got all my chores done that I had on my list for the weekend (which is always a good feeling) and I even had some time to make this card. I also managed to squeeze in some time to soak up the sun. Not too many more 80 degree days left I am afraid. The leaves are turning, the nights are cooler and the deer are starting to get their winter coats. That's not a very good sign. I also like fall but I hate the end of summer just as much. I guess I can't have both, now can I.

Hope you all have a great week.

~Have fun and enjoy!

Bucket List- check

 We headed up north to the U.P. for my sister-n-law's wedding last weekend but we took a few days off before and headed over to the west side of the state for some much needed fun. My children are still in disbelief that the DH and I went zip-lining and that it was my idea. Let me just say it was so liberating and awesome. We did the full 3 hour canopy tour and were 100 feet up in the air on some of the lines. There were 5 swinging suspended wooden bridges that we had to walk across to the 9 different zip-lines. The views were spectacular after the first 2 lines when I could stop focusing on technique and just enjoy the ride.

We rented a condo on the beach for two nights in Boyne City and we could see the entire harbor on the south shore of Lake Charlevoix from our balcony. At night we left the bedroom windows open and we could hear the waves lapping on the shore all night. What a view to wake up to each morning. After zip-lining in the morning, we made some lunch and took it down to the beach for an afternoon of sun and floating in the water. I have to say it was one of the most relaxing short vacations we have done in a long time and I can now cross zip-lining off my bucket list.

Today's card is all SU. The card stock is Pistachio Pudding and Mellon Mambo. The designer paper is All Abloom. Such a nice color combo for summer. I used the Deco Labels die for the sentiment which is from the stamp set Let Your Hair Down. Of course you know me, it has to have some bling and I layered that over some lime green ruffled gingham ribbon. Check out the little yellow birds, aren't they the cutest. They are expoxy clear stickers from Heidi Grace called Tweet Memories.

Still can't believe summer is over. Here in Michigan we didn't know it even started. I think I can count on one hand the number of hot steamy days we had. Hoping for some good thunderstorms today. I plan on spending the afternoon in my studio cleaning and organizing. Hopefully I will get some time to also make a few cards once I can see my desk. I always enjoy seeing the lightening and rain through the skylights and as always I will have a scented candle burning.

 

~have fun and enjoy!