Independence Day 2013

Happy Independence Day Weekend, Everyone!  Since the fourth is mid-week this year, many will be celebrating this weekend, and some may wait till next weekend.  Any way you look at it, the Fourth of July is a good time to celebrate! Today's card is red, white, and blue, but the traditional Patriotic theme is not there. Instead, I have chosen an everyday type theme to "Celebrate" our Independence Day.

The card began with a stock base of royal blue card, and the words "Independence Day" cut from the Cricut Word Collage Cartridge cut from white stock, and the letters glued to the card front of the card with Tombo Mono Multi liquid glue. I then found a Mary Engelbreit Name Tag, that I stamped "4 th of July" on from a Fiskars Holiday Stamp set. I added a few stamped stars, and a few small die cut stars to the tag before gluing it to the front of the card. Next, I have been playing with scanning some of my rubber stamps into my computer, so I took one of the images of a Julie Nutting Doll Stamp, and shrank it down to 50% of it's regular size, and printed it out on my computer. Now the 4" image was just the perfect size to place on my landscaped A2 card base, so I colored her in with my Copic markers. I needed something else "Red" to add to the color scheme, so I added two strips of washi tape to the top left corner, and used large dimensional Zot Dots to pop up the doll image over the washi tape. I then took my Silver Outliner Gel pen and drew some stitching lines around several of the elements, and the card frame to give it a little sparkle.

I hope you will enjoy the time with your family and friends this weekend. Be safe, and celebrate sensibly. And Have a Great Weekend!

Mindy

Art Journal - My Family Tree

Happy Friday, to all my bloggie friends!  To celebrate this weekend, I am posting my first double page spread from my art journal.  I had watched so many videos from YouTube on art journaling, that I was blinded by the thought of starting an art journal.  I wanted to, so badly, and even ordered one of the blank journals from my friends at Paper Wings Productions.  The problem was that I blankly stared at the blank pages weeks before I finally got the nerve to put some ink on the paper!  Once I sprayed the first splotch of color, my world opened up, and I work a little in it everyday!

I was afraid to start a page, and not know how to finish it. Now that I have realized you don't have to sit right down and complete a whole page at once, it has become a lot easier and not so frightening.  If you have several pages "in progress" at the same time, you can work on which ever one you feel like working on. AND, if you don't feel like working on one you have started, you CAN start another!

So, on this layout, I started by spritzing several colors of spray mists. I used  The Dylusion Mists by Ranger in the orange, yellow, and green. On the right hand page, I adhered a sheet of handmade mulberry paper to the page with Golden Soft Gel Matte medium. It was a green color, so I thought I would draw a tree shape, since I love nature so.  Well, I am not an artist, and my tree was a little lopsided.  I also had adhered a hand full of inchie squares that had a peacock feather "eye" around the tree's branches.   After looking at the arrangement for a few days, and not really liking what I had done, I took some white Gesso from Golden Products, and painted a layer of gesso over my tree!  1- 2 - 3- GONE!

I decided instead, to use Light Molding Paste from Golden, and a Family Tree Scrapbook Stencil I had, to stencil a tree right in the middle of both pages, making it a two-page spread. I scraped some of the gesso from the peacock feather "eyes", stamped some flowers at the base of the tree, coloring them with purple Lumiere paint, and stenciled the letters from the tree stencil "My Family Tree" across the bottom of the page.  I then wrote ". . is full of nuts" and knew this page was finally coming together. I added the Wheelie Girl stamped image from My Favorite Things below the tree, and wrote the names of a few of my relatives on the leaves of the tree; each branch representing a branch of the family. In the top left of the page, I added a die-cut that says, " the acorn doesn't fall far from the tree, and added tiny white dots to the flowers with my picket fence white Distressed Marker.

It was finally to a point where I was somewhat pleased with how it turned out. I admitted to myself that I wanted this journal to be a learning and growing experience, and if I started out with a "Perfect Work" I wouldn't need to learn a thing.  Realization can be a very humbling experience!

I hope you have enjoyed travelling down this road with me, and have learned a lesson or two along the way!  If you don't jump in with both feet, you will never be able to learn or grow!  So have a great weekend, and go try something NEW whether it be a sport, or  craft, or dance, or wherever your interests lie. See you again soon.

Mindy

I LOVE IT!

I Love It, I do! I am busy playing with my New Julie Nutting Doll Stamps from Prima, and I really love this recent release.  This card uses "Phoebe", and I have her set in a botanical setting with flowers from the Botanical Cartridge from Cricut.

I love stamping the doll stamps on the Tag Pad, also from Prima and Julie Nutting. This gives them an antique beige coloring with a lightly printed word background. Of course, I color the skin with my earthtone Copic Markers, in various shades of skintones, and either color in the clothing or paper piece it, to give the design more interest. On this card I stamped the skirt on a scrap of printed paper, and the blouse on white cardstock so I could color it in to match the green colors in my sentiment block and the twine.

I cut the daisies from the Botanicals cartridge with my Cricut machine, from ivory cardstock and glued it to the background paper from the Engraver 6 X 6 paper pad by Prima. I glued all of the elements to the cardbase with my Tombow Multi Mono liquid glue, and then used foam squares to adhere the skirt and blouse to Phoebe. To finish off the card, I added teensy half-pearls to the buttons on her blouse, and gold paint marker to the centers of the daisies, then tied a loopy bow from Limeade lawn clippings twine from Lawn Fawn and glued it to the stems of the daisies.

This card could be used for many occassions. I hope you have enjoyed this card.
I am entering it in the DL Art- Thankful Thursday June Linky Challenge- "Anything Goes". Stop by to see more wonderful card ideas submitted this month. Until next time,
Mindy

Picture Perfect Garden Angel- Mixed Media Canvas

Hello fellow artists!  Today's post is a first for me. My first Canvas Mixed-Media Collage piece. I have been studying pieces by other artists, and finally decided to give it a try myself.

Most of the supplies for this canvas was from the June Nesting Components Mixed Media Kit from Paper Wings Productions. I also used one of my New stamps from the Julie Nutting Doll Stamp Collection from Prima, "Riley" is her name.  The angel wings stamp is also new from Prima, and works along with the Doll stamps.

The canvas is an 8" X 8" stretched canvas I purchased throught Oriental Trading Co. I didn't photograph the step-by-step tutorial, because it was my first canvas, and I wasn't sure how it was going to come out.  But now that I know what to expect, and the steps involved in creating a canvas like this, I will try to do a tutorial on the next one I do.

If you have any specific questions about this piece, you can leave  a comment here on the blog, or email me to ask your question. I will be happy to answer any questions you have.

Thank you for joining me here today. See you again soon.

Lovely Birthday Wishes

Happy Sunday, fellow card makers!  Today I want to share with you a card I received recently, from my friend Joanie, for my birthday. It is a beautiful handmade card that took time and thought to put together, but means so much to me. 

                                                                                                       





The front of the card was decorated with paper from the Botanical Etchings collection from Paper Wishes/ Hot Off the Press. The large postage stamp was layered with foam tape to form a pyramid shape, with layers upon top of layers of paper to give the card dimension. The butterfly was also attached with a foam dot so it's wings would be free to fly.

 The inside of the card was decorated with more of the beautiful papers for the background, and one of my favorite stamp sets from Penny Black Stamps, birthday friends.

This is where the extreme thought came in. She remembered that daisies were my favorite flower, and that tea is my favorite drink, both hot and iced. Joanie adapted the small mouse stamp by covering the balloon  he was holding with the large daisies. They gave dimension to the card also. She gave the hedgehog a cup of tea to carry, and the cat, well he carried the birthday cake! All the while, singing "Happy Birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday, to you!

I love to add that special touch to a card, that helps the recipient realize the card is especially for them, and was given much thought in the making.



Thank you all for visiting today, and I hope you enjoyed the card I shared. Have a nice weekend, and I will see you again soon.

Mindy

A Nice Day for A Wedding

 The sun is shining bright, not a cloud in the sky. The temperature is suitable and everyone looks their best.

What a Lovely Day for A Wedding!

This is a really special card, and I am so pleased to be sharing it with you today.  I just received the new set of Julie Nutting Doll Stamps from Prima, and this is the newest and largest one yet!  Everyone meet Lorenna!  When I saw this stamp, I immediately thought of a beautiful bride, walking down the aisle. 

 It also happened that Little Scrap Pieces- Fun Friday Challenge was A Nice Day for a White Wedding. So, I knew I had to make this card and submit it for the challenge. I also submitted it to the DL Art Thankful Thursday-June Linky Party Challenge "Anything Goes."

I started out by stamping Lorenna's image out on a piece of plain white card stock, twice. I then stamped her upper body on one of the tags from Prima's Large Tag Pad, also designed by Julie Nutting. Each tag has an antique look to it, with antique text lightly printed on each tag. I used this for her head, shoulders, and arms. Then just a light touch of Copic markers on her skin, and hair, and I was ready to design the dress.  I ran both stamped dresses through my Cuttlebug with the Damask Embossing folder from Sizzix. I then fussy cut one dress into strips, following the folds of the skirt. I popped every other one up on the thickest sticky Zots I could find, and glued the top of the fold down at the waist. I then went over the outlines with my white Posca paint marker. The folds are still slightly visible, giving the gown depth and dimension. To add a little bling, I added a small bouquet of Prima pink roses in her hand, and added a flowing bow to her hair containing three small rosebuds.

The card itself is a half-fold card  made from The Luxury Stack, pearlized and metallic card stock from Die Cuts With a View. The attached squares were cut from a sheet of handmade embossed paper from Creative Papers, and the sentiment was stamped on plain white card stock with Memento's Tuxedo Black ink.

I think it turned out well, and I hope you have enjoyed it also. Don't  forget to click on the link above from Little Scrap Pieces to check out more ideas and cards, celebrating A Nice Day for a White Wedding.

Mindy

You're the Best - #1 Dad

Today is a terrific Tuesday, and I hope everyone is having a great day!  Today's card is a masculine card that I am using for a masculine birthday, or it could also be used for Father's Day. (I know that was this past Sunday!) Anyway, this card is very masculine with lots of layers and texture, and here is how I made it.

First of all, I had this wonderful image stamp from B Line Designs, Button Card duo.  I stamped it out on Neenah white card stock in Memento Rich Cocoa ink. I then inked around the outside edges with Sepia Archival ink and shaded his shirt with a little lightest blue PanPastel chalk. (it's hard to see in the picture, sorry)  I then hit my button stash, and adhered some mother-of-pearl shirt buttons to the card. While this was drying, I started to build the layers of the card.

Using a base card of kraft colored stock, I cut an A2 size card  5 1/2" X 8 1/2", and scored it down the middle for a side opening card. I then found some Skeleton dried leaves in both rust and ivory, and picked out one of each that would fit on my card. I then picked an antique writing paper strip from the Engraver Collection of papers from Prima. I started layering first a background sheet of brown card stock, and then glued the ivory skeleton leaf to the left of the card using my Tombow Mono liquid glue. Next came the layer of patterned paper attached to the right side with double sided adhesive. The I attached the button card on top, and slightly to the left, overlapping the patterned paper and leaf.  Using the Mono glue again, I attached the other rust colored skeleton leaf on the top of the button card and to the right. 

For the messages, I stamped the #1 Dad stamp from Fiskars on white stock in the Sepia ink, and cut a remaining strip of the brown stock in a straight banner length and used rub-on letters, (style: "all mixed up" by Doodlebug Designs) to apply the phrase "You're the Best!"  I used a BoBunny Bodacious Brad to attach the banner to the front of the card.

 I will be entering this card in the DL Art Thankful Thursday Challenge #111 for Father's Day.

And there you have it! One masculine card, for one super-terrific guy! I hope you all have a great week. See you again soon.

Mindy

You Make Life Sweet, Happy Birthday!

I have been hungry all day! It is a rainy dreary day, and I have been trying to stay busy working on a mixed-media canvas, several birthday cards, and a scrapbook page, all to keep my mind off food.  Every time I glance over at the computer screen (I have it open to my Facebook news feed) someone is posting about food! Whether they are pinning beautiful party decorations, super supper casseroles, or uniquely decorated cupcakes, it all looks so good I want to go bake something. But I know I'd better not. Instead, I will decorate a cupcake theme birthday card.

I started with a piece of Basic Grey scrapbook paper and glued it to my card front.  Then I adhered a strip of sheer purple ribbon about 1/3 of the way down the card. The bottom half of the card is a coordinating print of paper from the same Basic Grey pad.  Using the "Hey Cupcake" clear stamps from Paper Wings Productions, I stamped the pedestal on a printed paper, and the cupcake on white cardstock. I colored in the cupcake with my Copic Markers and then glittered the frosting with pretty pink ultra-fine glitter.  I also stamped the fork, knife, & spoon from the Hey Cupcake set on white stock, and colored it in with my copics also. I adhered the fork to the back of the cupcake to make it look as if someone was eating it, and attached a large half-pearl on the top of the cupcake swirl.

I also took a strip of white cardstock and stamped the phrase,"you make life sweet! using the Whimsical Alphabet stamp set from Paper Wings Productions for the word "L I F E" and hand wrote the rest. Using double sided tape, I adhered the paper strip with the phrase directly under the purple ribbon and then attached the cupcake and pedestal on top of it using foam tape to make it POP!  I also adhered three smaller half-pearls below the strip for accent. I also stamped "Happy Birthday" inside the card, before I wrote my message..

After it was completed, I could stare at it sitting on my computer, instead of looking at all the yummy food on the computer screen.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Saturday, and look forward to a beautiful Sunday!  Happy crafting, or celebrating with Dad, whichever you happen to be doing on Sunday. Until next time-

Mindy

Happy Father's Day, Dad

Happy Wednesday fellow card makers!  This weekend we will be celebrating Father's Day!  A day to remember dear old Dad, and to tell him how much we love him. Some fathers complain about the socks, tie, or handkerchief they receive as a gift, but I don't know of one Father that doesn't like a nice card whether he would like to admit it or not!

The first card I made, was using bits and pieces left over from previous projects. I have a drawer that has bits of papers, and pictures, and ribbons and trims in it, that are left-overs from various projects throughout the year.  I also have a stack of "4 Bar cards" that are between an A2 quarter size card, and a note card in size.  I hardly ever use them because they are 3 1/2" X 5" and don't fit in the A2 size envelope correctly. Of course, they DO fit, just not like I think they should.

Anyway, I scrounged through my bin, until I found a scrap of printed scrapbook paper that looked rather antique-ish that fit on the front of the "4 Bar card."  I then glued the paper to the front of the card with my gluestick and edged around it with my burnt sienna brown chalk ink pad by ColorBox.  Next I found an old piece of scrapbook paper that had photo images on it that were sepia toned, and looked old. I found one of three children posed by the side of their house, just like a Mother would do before taking a picture. Of course, everyone was in their Sunday best, and hair combed, shoes polished. I trimmed out the picture, inked around it's edges and matched it to two other scraps found in my drawer. After adhering them to the front of my card, I typed out a sentiment on the computer that said "Happy Father's Day, Dad". I added it in banner form and glued three small antique lace flowers on the corner of the picture and added acrylic stones to the centers for a little bling. To finish off the card, and add a final bit of detail to it, I inked a little doo dad stamp from the Dandy Doodads Set from A Stamp in the Hand in rich cocoa Memento ink and dotted it across the front of my card.

The second card, was made with a set of silhouette stamps I have had many years. I don't have any record of where they came from or who made them, but they are still in great condition.  Again, I used one of the "4 Bar cards" and my June Nesting Component Kit from Paper Wings Productions to stamp out a Nature inspired card with weeds, and grasses, and berries using the Rich Cocoa brown Memento ink pad, and Cloud stamp set that came in the June Kit. The stamp set I found also included a flying bird that I stamped in Pear Tart Memento ink, and also used the ink to color a tiny wooden bird that came in the June Kit.  I tied the card with a bit of brown and white twine,(also in the kit) and knotted it at the top of the card. To finish this card, I stamped a phrase that was with the stamp set on a scrap of gingham cardstock and glued my tiny bright green bird to the top of the senitment banner. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week, and don't forget to remember your Father on this upcoming Father's Day.  Even if it's only with a card, that says, "I love you, DAD".

Mindy

Butterfly Happy Birthday!

Good Wednesday morning to my fellow cardmakers!  I had to get busy today and make a birthday card for my birthday buddie, Lisa Knight, who lives in Knox, PA. I have to get the card in the mail pretty soon, because it needs to get there by June 11. Here's what I did to get started!

First I took a sheet of Blu Raspberry card stock from My Favorite Things, and cut the front panel for an A2 size card. I then punched a 3" circle from Banana Split stock from MFT and got out my background stamp "Flowers, Lines, & Dots from Hero Arts Stamps, and inked it up with Cottage Ivy green Memento ink.  I centered my circle of yellow in the middle of the inked stamp then pressed down to transfer the design to the circle.  I then reinked the background stamp and stamped it on the blu raspberry stock. By doing so seperately, I could then position the circle right in the middle of the blu raspberry piece, matching the designs of both to look as if they were stamped at the same time. I then colored in some of the flowers in the design with my White Distressed Marker from Tim Holtz.

In the meantime, I cut two delicate butterfly designs from Rosemary & Thyme 6 X 6 paper pad from Paper Wishes.I used the Sm. Faerie Queen Butterfly Die to cut two butterflies and two background wings from coordinating prints. I then used my Mono Adhesive to glue the layers together, and put them aside to dry. I also punched a single butterfly out of dotted paper, and a banner stamped from the Banneriffic Clear set from Lawn Fawn.  The greeting, "Happy Birthday" was from the Birthday Elephant clear set from Inky Antics.  While all my parts were drying, I was gently placing them on the card base to see where exactly I wanted them.  As I arranged, and rearranged things, I decided that it needed something white amidst all that Blu Raspberry color.  I then decided to cut a border of white from my Nestabilites A2 Distressed Card Creator from Spellbinders. That gave it just the pop of white I needed to break the monotony of the blue.

Now it was time to adhere all the elements. Of course, the yellow circle was centered, so I used double stick tape to attach the white border around the circle. I then glued the butterflies down, just along their bodies with the Mono adhesive.  I then attached the birthday banner across the middle of the circle with foam dots, and added a few acrylic stones to the butterflies and to the background to give it all a little bling!  I left the wings of the butterflies unglued, so they would be able to stand up when the card was removed from the envelope. I then attached the whole unit to a white card base, and it was ready for me to write a personal message to my friend.

I'm glad you stopped by today, to view my most recently made card. I hope you enjoyed the process of how it was done, and was inspired to try some of the elements on a card you will make. Have a wonderful Wednesday, and I will see you again soon.

Mindy

HATS OFF TO YOU!

Happy Sunday to all out there! Here is another Graduation card I made in my quest to find a design I like,  to send to a sweet girl who is graduating from college.

Here is how I did it! I started with a black card stock base card and added a sheet of background paper from the "Almanac" 6 X 6 pad by Prima.  I then added a strip of  black & white polka dot washi tape across the paper, about 1/2" from the bottom of the card.  I then stamped my Pure Inocence-"Freckles" girl stamp from My Favorite Things on a sheet of ivory card stock and colored her in with my Copic Markers.  Like the card before, I wanted her dressed in the traditional cap & gown, so I drew on the outline of the gown, and colored it in with my black copic marker, right over the clothes that were on the stamp. The mortarboard "hat's" were all stamped in Tuxedo Black Memento ink from my Lawn Fan set,"Hats Off to You". I cut each out leaving a small ivory border around each. Then I used foam tape to adhere the graduate and the flying hats to the front of the card.  The sentiment, "hats off to you" came from the same Lawn Fawn set as the mortarboard, and I just stuck it to the card right above the washi tape.

I am entering this card in the Little Scrap Pieces Fun Friday Challenge- "Congradulations Graduates"!

Can't you just imagine seeing all the "hat's" flying in the air at the end of the graduation ceremony? I remember years ago when I graduated, the Principal told us that if we "flung our hats into the air" at the end of the ceremony we would be severely punished!  What was he gonna do?  We HAD just graduated!
I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend, the first weekend of summer! (Yikes!)  Where does the time go?  See you soon!
Mindy