JOY Today

The day after Thanksgiving, "Black Friday", the biggest shopping day of the year for Christmas gift giving!  For those of you in the USA, Black Friday is a day of Joy, and happiness, because 73% of the population will be cramming the malls and shops, pushing, shoving,  and grabbing everything in stock, trying to get the greatest bargains of the century!  After 27 years in retail, I don't go anywhere near a store on the day after Thanksgiving. NO MATTER WHAT!

Instead, I stay home and work on my arts and crafts, and sit down with a warm cup of tea to watch one of my favorite performers of all time, Garth Brooks, who is doing a concert on TV tonight "Live from Las Vegas".  Just Garth and his guitar, alone on stage, recreating the music that HE grew up with. I am in heaven!

I did get a few cards made today. One is the Joy Today card pictured above.  For this card, I die cut the white background card from the largest label die from the Spellbinders Twenty Six set, and then cut another label die from a Christmas Stripe print paper.  I then cut a black label from the Ornate Squares Spellbinders Set, and attached it to the stripe background paper. I stamped the Cameo Brooch Stamp from Deep Red Clingstamps in Memento Tuxedo black ink on white card stock. I used my Copic markers to color in the Cameo Brooch, fussy cut the brooch, and then used foam tape to pop it up on top of the black label. Using a small red pre-cut label, I used my white Posca marker to write the word "Joy" on it, then attached it to the card front along with a few white half pearls and two burgandy tiny brads attaching the black label to the card front. 

I am having so much fun making these 4" square gift cards, and will probably package a bunch of them together and send them to a friend for Christmas. Well, I guess I will close for now. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and maybe even get a little time to create something beautiful.  I also hope you will take a moment, and drop me a line leaving your comments. I really enjoy hearing from you, and your comments, and would love to come and check out your blogs if you have one.  See you again soon!

Happy Thelma Holidays!

Happy Thelma Holidays Everyone!

I am playing with many of my New stamps I received this past month. This is the "Leaning Thelma" stamp, and the Texas Santa Hat stamp by Deadbeat Designs Stamps. 

I started out by using my Spellbinders Labels Twenty Six die and cutting out a white card stock card, and then attaching a smaller size sheet of green print scrapbook paper to the background.  I also cut a wreath shape from darker green stock from the Spellbinders Asian Accents die set and used foam tape to pop it up on the background.

I then stamped the Texas shape with the Santa hat on white card stock, and used my stamp positioner to stamp the Leaning Thelma stamp next to it, to make it look as if she was leaning on it.  I then colored in the stamping with my Copic markers and fussy cut around the design leaving an 1/8" border all around. It was attached to the card with a square of foam tape behind the state.  I then tied a small bow with satin ribbon and attached to the punched wreath to complete the card.

It finally feels like winter in most areas of the United States, so I decided to start my Christmas posts.  It is so hard to start thinking about Christmas when it is 90+ degrees outside, but now that it is in the 30's and 40's, it is much easier to think about snowmen and icicles, mittens and muffs. Have a great week, celebrating Thanksgiving with your family and friends, and I will check in with you very soon with more great holiday cards and ideas. See you soon!
Mindy

Sunny Thoughts

Hello Friends! I am sending Sunny thoughts your way today, because according to the weather, it may be getting cold and nasty again real soon!

I have also been playing with my newest Spellbinders Dies, making some of these layered lacy cards that I love so.  My friend, Lisa, at A Mermaid's Crafts, has gotten me hooked on these layered cards using the Spellbinders Dies. Hers are so beautiful, and I wanted to learn to make them for my personal use. So, I am playing with some older card stock, learning how to adapt the style of die to the various die layers, therefore creating a beautiful card.

This card is approximately 4" square and is made using the Marvelous Squares Die Set from Spellbinders. I also used a sheet of peach with white flourishes scrapbook paper to add a little color and depth to the card.

These are so much fun to make, and look so elegant to me. I think I may try to make a few as place cards for my Thanksgiving table this year. Since I have a very small gathering, I enjoy decorating the table to the hilt, and these will add to the formality and elegance of the decor.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and that you and your families are blessed on this wonderful holiday. Stay warm and safe, and I will see you again soon.

Mindy

A Few More Thelma Tags

I finished a few more tags with the "Thelma" stamp my friend Mark Jetton at Deadbeat Design Stamps sent me.  He also promoted my blog on his post yesterday, so I thought if someone came looking for his link I would have more than the one little tag I posted yesterday.  Thelma is so much fun to stamp, color, and even paper piece! 

I have been adding scraps of scrapbook paper to tags for backgrounds for several weeks now.  If you viewed my blog last year before Christmas, you saw the tags I made to decorate a Christmas tree for our church group.  This year I am doing something different with the church group, but we haven't quite decided yet what it will be.  I do, however, like to have some tags prepared for decorating, "just in case I need them!"  Since many of Mark's stamps are Texas themed, I thought I would use another themed set by Paper Wings Productions (also Texas based) for the Texas sayings. These were from the Texas Quotes set.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend, preparing for Thanksgiving which is not too far away. These tags also make  wonderful place cards for your Thanksgiving table. So why not make up a batch to decorate your table, "and let your creative juices flow!"  See you soon.
Mindy

Crafty Friends

Hello Friends!

Today's quick post is a "Thank You" for a friend, Mark Jetton from Deadbeat Designs Stamps.  He sent me two of his newest wood mounted stamps, Thelma, and Small funky glasses.

I love these new designs, but hadn't had a chance to order them yet. Thelma is so cute, and there are several styles of her that Mark designed. There is also a full length version, called Thelma leaning, that is so creative and fun to work with in your card making.  The Funky Glasses also come in two sizes, and just add that special touch to your backgrounds and other images. You can view Mark's Gallery at his above mentioned web site, just click on the link and it will take you there.

To make this tag, I first took the Thelma stamp (in the square) and stamped it in the middle of the tag.  I then stamped a mask on a sticky note, fussy cut around it, and then placed it on top of the tag image.  I then inked the small glasses stamp with Tuxedo black Memento ink and stamped it around the masked image.  I then removed the mask, and colored in the image with my Copic markers.  To add some interest and texture to the background, I swiped the Old Paper Distress Stain from Tim Holtz around and then lightly spritzed the entire tag with Lindy's Stamp Gang's Desert Moon Purple Sage Glitz Spritz.  For bling, I added tiny pearls to the glasses frames, and a shiny ribbon to the top of the tag.  I then stamped the "Crafty Friends" sentiment from My Favorite Things, PI Crafty Things Stamp Set.

This saying is so true, one of my favorites: "Crafty Friends are the Best Friends!"  See you all soon! Keep on Craftin'.

Mindy

Spread Your Wings

Hello friends! Today's card was inspired by my good friend, Lisa, from A Mermaids Crafts. She does these beautiful layered cards using Spellbinders Dies in various shapes and sizes for cards that are awesome and unique!

I started by making my card base, a 4" square note/gift card, by punching the Nestabilities Leafy Squares die from white card stock with my Cuttlebug machine. I then cut another, with 1/2" folded under, before placing the die right on the edge of the folded card stock.  After cutting this piece, I removed it from the die and glued the little 1/2" flap to the top of the plain square piece, aligning the designs on both pieces.  This makes the card base with the fold on the top.

I then cut two printed paper squares 1/4" smaller than the solid square area, and adhered them to the card base.  Using my Faerie's Clear Stamp Set from Paper Wings Productions, I then stamped the fairy in the circle on white card stock, and colored her in with my Copic Markers. Using my Twinkle Gel Pens and Spica Glitter Pens, I added sparkle and shine to the Copic colored image.  I then used foam tape to adhere the circle to the card front, raising it up to give the card some dimension.  I also stamped the phrase included in the Faerie Stamp Set to the outside of the card, and remainder of the saying is stamped inside the card.

Of course, Lisa's cards are much more ornate than mine, but this was my first attempt at such a beautiful design, and I think it turned out pretty.  I will keep practicing this technique because I really love the way these cards look. Again, I want to thank Lisa for her inspiration. I hope you will check out her blog mentioned above to see more of her wonderful cards and creations. 

Have a great week, and I will visit with you again soon.

Peace Grows . . . . . .

Hello  fellow card makers! Today's card is a stamp from Flourishes, called Garden Delight.  The saying in this stamp set, "Peace grows in the beauty of a garden" is one of my favorites. I started with a green grid background paper edged in burnt sienna ColorBox Chalk inkpad. I then die cut the Spellbinders Lattice die in pale pink card stock and then layered with foam tape to give dimension to the card.  I then stamped out the Flourishes stamp of the orchid with book on white card stock with Memento Rich Cocoa ink and the saying in the same.

I colored the orchid image with Copic markers and glued it on top of the lattice work with liquid adhesive. After adding metallic green ribbon and ecru lace below the image, I adhered the saying to the card to the left of the image, using foam tape and adhesive to layer it on top of the image and ribbons.  A single loop bow made from the lace was then adhered to the top of the lattice work frame, and entire section adhered to the front of an A2 card front.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and have time to create something beautiful from your artistic endeavors.  See you again soon.