Engagement News

 

Congratulations to our niece Molly who recently became engaged to her guy Alex.  I know this card is more for a wedding not an engagement but it is close enough.  I haven't heard any date set yet but it will be another good chance to see family for a happy occasion. 

Festival of Trees

Jim and I belong to Creative Craft Guild based in Pinellas County.  Each year they decorate a tree for the festival of trees which benefits a local charity.  Each member of the guild donates ornaments for the tree in the craft that they do.  These are the paper, glass and wire ornaments we made  representing our crafts.

Old Friends

Not the card I sent her, but today is my best friend from high school and college birthday.  We still email and send cards to each other but it has been a long time since I have seen her so I guess she doesn't have the best friend status anymore but the memories are still there.  Happy Birthday to Carol, who doesn't even know I have a blog.

Upsies Momma

 
 This is another of Jim's glass creations.  Here is what he said about it on his Goodsmiths blog.   Fusing involves cutting the glass and then stacking the pieces in a kiln. They are then heated to 1450 degrees F to melt the glass into one piece. At that temperature the glass is more liquid and it fuses into one piece. In this piece the mother and little girl are fused separately and then glued together and put on a glass base for added stability. I can imagine the girl crying "pick me up momma" or something like that. I called them "Upsies Momma" because they reminded me of nieces looking at their mother with love and uttering that phrase.   I think it shows the love between a mother and her daughter. The piece comes with a choice of blonde or black hair and I would consider other choices.
 

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday Mom

My mom  was almost thirty when she had me so it was always easy to just add 30 to my age and I knew how old she was turning on her birthday.  She would have been 92 today.  I miss her even after more than seven years.  I sure wish I could call and wish her Happy Birthday.

Sunburst Technique

I have been seeing this technique a lot on splitcoast but I had never tried doing it.  I found a video on Dawn O's blog and decided to give it a try.  Some people call it starburst but I thought living in Florida it needed to be Sunburst instead.  If you want to know how to do it, look for Dawn's video or leave me a comment and I will find the link for you.  It is an easy way to use up some designer paper especially scraps.

Sunflower Sympathy

 

This will be the last sunflower card for awhile, not that I didn't make others, but I think you might want to see something different.  The designer paper in the background I have had for about three years.  I know I have been using a lot of designer paper lately, but the stack doesn't seem to get smaller.  Of course I did buy four more packages which doesn't help the stack either.  You might be thinking didn't she just post that same card a few days ago?  If you think so look just a little closer to see the subtle differences between the two cards.  They are slightly different.

Notice Anything Different?

Do you ever wonder how a person names a blog?  When I made that decision, Jim made jewelry and I made greeting cards.  You would need to look back to April 27, 2010 to see a post of his jewelry.  He hasn't been making it because he gets bored and needs a change. His first craft love was stained glass so he is back to making glass the past three years.  But since I am the blogger, I take the pictures and do all the posts.  So I thought it was time to start posting some glass.  Since there is no longer any jewelry being posted, I changed the name of the blog.  Do you remember the old name?

 

Triple Time Sunflower

I love using the triple time stamping technique.  Someone on splitcoast used the large sunflower stamp with this technique.  I never would have thought to use such a big stamp for this technique but it worked well.  This card flew out the door quickly at my last craft show.  Don't know how this method works?  If you want to know, leave me a comment.

Sunflower Get Well

Another goal of mine is to try to use a large amount of designer paper.  I have so much of it but I am always tempted to use more.  My mom's craft was sewing and she was always tempted by fabric but paper is my downfall.  I realized I don't have many get well cards made up and flowers are always a good way to cheer up someone who is not feeling well.  I made another card that I will be posting in a few days that looks almost like this one.  See if you can find the subtle differences on Thursday's card.

Sunflowers and Sunshine

Because I was away most of June, I just recently ordered from the new catalog.  I decided I was not using any of my old sets until I had used all of the new at least once.  So the next few posts are going to have sunflowers.  It isn't new to Stampin' Up! just new to me.

I know on this day we always remember the Twin Towers victims.  I also think about Jim's mom whose birthday would have been today.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

This is the card I made for one of the girls in our neighborhood who got married last month.  Her colors were real close to eggplant.  I am posting it today because today would have been my mom and dad's anniversary.  They were married 57 years when my dad died.  



Winter Frost Scraps

After using the Winter Frost paper on so many projects, I had a lot of small pieces leftover.  Just like leftover food, I use everything.  This quilt type card is made using 1/4 inch strips of designer paper.  They are easy and fun to make. This is the last post using the holiday catalog, at least for right now. My next post is a special one in memory of my mom and dad.

Winter Purses

These purses hold about four miniature candy bars or some kisses.  If you don't want to use them for candy, other small items like lip gloss also fit.  They are not big enough for a gift card.  At craft shows, I display these on a small dress form that is meant for jewelry that I found at a local bed and both type store.  I keep the chocolate in a cooler and give that to  the customer in a separate bag.  I wonder how many of them have to buy chocolate to refill them because they ate it while walking around the show.

Gift Tags for Bottles

  Many people I know bring a bottle of wine to the Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner hosts.  These gift tags add an extra touch to the gift. The next tags I make,  I am going to add a ribbon bow to the top or use the bow die and add the bow right to the tag.   The tags can be used for any type bottle.

Someone asked for the measurements of the tags.  Notice one is longer than the other.  I like the shorter one better but try it and see what you like.  The short one is 8 X 2  1/2 scored at 3.  The "hole"  is 1  3/4 circle and a 2  3/8 scallop circle.  The longer one is 8  1/2 X 2  1/2 scored at 3. 

Winter Frost Birthday

Just because it is winter frost designer paper doesn't mean it can only be used for a Christmas card.  My ladies made this card on Monday during our monthly card class.  I gave them the choice of using the birthday greeting or the Merry Christmas greeting.

Are you interested in attending a no pressure card class?  If you are, leave me a comment and I will get with you about setting up a time to get together with you and a few others.  I limit the size of my classes to 6.

Sweet 16

Since I said I would be posting more from the Holiday Catalog, I bet you thought it would be all Christmas.  This card uses the bow die from the mini for a birthday holiday. I know it will flatten in the mail but that is ok.  Last year I had people asking for cards with an age on it.  I hadn't made any because that is such a specific card.  So this year I decided to give it a try.  I saw one like this on the Inking Idaho blog and thought I would do something like it.  Wondering why it fits on the card and yours doesn't?  Look carefully and you will see that I trimmed the ties so it would fit.  Oh and the sweet is from Cycle Celebration.  I only put ink on that part of the greeting stamp. 

Tea Time at Hawaii Ink

 

 

I am a member of Hawaii Ink, a group of about 90 Stampin’ Up! demonstrators.  We are sharing some ideas from the Holiday Catalog.  You have just come from Lisa's blog,  http://lisacurcio.blogspot.com.  Don't worry if you are just starting on the hop because you can complete the hop no matter where you start.

This is the time of year that I am busy working on craft show merchandise.  Everything I make, unless it is something personal that I need, is something that can be displayed at a show.  I have several customers that come looking for teabag holders.  As soon as I saw the Winter Frost Specialty Designer Paper in the Holiday Catalog, I knew I had to have it for my teabags.   There is nothing new about them but tea parties and tea rooms are quite the thing to do around here.  Other holiday products I used on this project include the Festive Flurry stamp set with the matching Festive Flurry Framelits and Encore Silver Ink.  

This is another type of teabag holder that I make.  It will hold two teabags or one teabag and a gift card.  It also has a pocket for a package of homemade cookies.   I used the Foil Sheets to make the bow using the Gift Bow Bigz L Die.

If you want directions for making either project, just ask by leaving a comment.


Starting Tuesday I will be posting more Holiday Catalog projects.  Make sure you come back to take a look at them.

If you have already seen Beverly's project, you are done with the hop.  If you haven't visited with Beverly yet visit her at http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/beverlym/blog.

If somehow you got lost on the tour, here is a list of all of us participating in the Hawaii Ink blog hop.

 Beverly Messerschmidt - http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/beverlym/blog

   Brooke Doerfler - http://brookestamps.wordpress.com

Emily Abad - http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/ucdesigns/blog

   Gina Mustain- http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/ginamustain/blog

   Jennifer Timko - http://stampinonthefly.com

   Jo Anne Waterhouse - http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/getcardedbyjoanne/blog

Lisa Curcio - http://lisacurcio.blogspot.com

   Sue Gilroy - http://www.kilroykrafts.blogspot.com/

Are You Ready for Football?

It doesn't seem like school should be starting back already or that it is football time.  It sure doesn't feel like fall is near I can  tell you that.  But school is starting and the college teams along with NFL teams are practicing. I borrowed this stamp set from my friend Anna.  Those of you that know Florida football know the teams in my cards.  Go clockwise starting with the upper right; FSU, UF, and the team we support USF.  The last card is just generic although I am sure some team uses those colors.

My Bike Story

 

This is one of the first sets that I marked in the new catalog that I really wanted.  I still enjoy riding my bike even at my old age.  I remember my dad trying to teach me how to ride my little bike without training wheels. I had just moved and it was the first time I had a sidewalk to ride on.  All the kids at school didn't use training wheels because they had a place to learn where I hadn't had any place to ride at my old house in the country.  They really made fun of me, but they did like me so it wasn't the bullying kind of making fun.   How he ever ran up and down the sidewalk with me I will never know.  I am so slow at learning motor skills but I finally did it.  I saw this card on splitcoast and knew I had to try it.  I think it may have been Joan that did this card but I will try to double check.