Playtime

Over the past few days I have gotten to play....I mean create!
On last Friday, a friend lost her Mom and as I thought of her I prayed for the Lord to lift her up and give her strength during this time of grief.
I tend to make Parchment craft (Pergamano) cards for these special times when someone needs that lifting up and love during difficult times. Here is the card I made for her.


Next was finishing off some ATCs for a swap with a butterfly theme. One of my favorite things...butterflies! Which I still have to take photos of...I can't believe I haven't yet....lol. Oh well those will be posted at a later time.

Yesterday I had a chance to make a Thank you card for my friend Paula. Last week she gave me an embossing folder for my birthday and a couple nights ago an idea popped into my head on exactly what I wanted to do with it.

Unfortunately the photo isn't the best and doesn't really show the vibrant colors. I love how it turned out!

Today I received my Paper Pumpkins kit for August (from Stampin' Up!) and it was a kit for 4 cards. According to the instructions you make them the same...well not me.
Although simple in design I think they are cute and just holler summertime. The one in the top left corner is the way the instructions said to make them.
Anyhow...it is time for me to head to bed. Tomorrow will be a busy day; I'm heading to a Phillies baseball game with a meal before hand at Xfinity. Hopefully they win!
Good night and God Bless you All!

Amazing alignment

I love how every once in a while things just align so perfectly.
On Aug 1st, I was going through my email and checked on challenges on Colorful Creations to see things I would hope to work on. Several of the current ones sounded like fun to try, but one really popped out at me. Anything Goes Challenge: Steam punk! I have never tried using steampunk style anything before but know others have and do a wonderful job mixing the Victorian era with the invention era.
My daughter later that day was telling me how she wanted to have a Steampunk costume for Halloween and her boyfriend thought she should make it. HA she doesn't know how to sew and since he doesn't either and there is no way they will learn before then. Guess who is making the costume...ME!
I thought about how this would be my subject for my LO...our journey of making her costume. This is the first page.
The paper is some Paula gave me a few months ago, but I thought was perfect for it with the copper foil accents in it. I then used some copper foil cardstock and embossed with TH SteamPunk embossing folder and my Cuttlebug. Almost perfect...just needed some aging, so I used TH alcohol ink Black Soot and added the aging. Layered this on black to make it pop from the background a bit.
I also thought the photo viewer wheel would be a nice addition. This I cut with a pale yellow (cream) colored cardstock and then used Distress Inks (black soot and tea dye) and Dewdrop copper to age it and the tag. I used some alpha stickers I've had for a few years and added some TH metal embellishments. The photo on the tag is of the pattern we are using and the other photos show the fabrics and a head piece I found to dress up for the occasion.
Now to get the pieces cut out and sewn together.
Watch for our progress along the way.

Altered TP roll treat holder

For one of the July swaps at Arthavencreationsandfriendships@yahoogroups.com we were to alter a roll from toilet paper. This was alot of fun, and there really are so many ideas out there for toilet paper rolls. One of the ideas that intrigued me the most I found at

The theme from the swap is summer: here is my interpretation of this. I hope Penny really likes this. I plan to add a bit of a treat for her as well.

Another of the swaps was a personalized wall hanging for our partner. Mine is for a lovely lady (Rita) in Texas who loves the colors blue and brown and beige flowers. This is what I made for her. I hope she likes it.

Next to work on is finishing up the ATCs. Look for them soon.

A crafty week so far

This has been quite a crafty week for me so far and it is only Wednesday.

First was the Ice cream cone shaped card (previously written about) on Sunday, then on Monday I made some paper flowers.

These turned out so nice I think. Always in the past mine would turn out only slightly dimensional and still pretty much be flat no matter what I did to them. I used the TH Alterations Tattered flowers sizzix die. To give them more depth I also inked the edges with TH tea dye distressing ink. I love inking the edges!
These were for a wall hanging for a swap I'm in which I completed Tuesday. I would love to share a photo at this time; as I love the way it turned out, but I feel the wonderful lady it is for should see it first. I plan to mail it out tomorrow and hopefully by the beginning of next week will have it in her little hands.

Yesterday I also embarked on a just for fun project with my sister Cyndi. As we rarely get to see each and both would love to travel and vacation together, we have started (today) having fantasy vacations. You didn't know I'm really on a cruise ship right now...lol.
For our little "trips" I even made a passport!

Although this is silly to some, we are exploring the world from our houses and sharing the memories of our inexpensive vacations. We have both been to several places in the world but not the same ones, we will be sharing these with the other and are both looking forward to our excursions. Who knows where we will "go" next. Europe or Hawaii are both on the list.

Who wants Ice Cream?

After all the heat this summer and knowing more is to come...I'm ready.

For a swap I'm in on Arthavencreationsandfriendships@yahoogroup.com I needed to make a shaped card. I had many ideas tossing around in my head for a few weeks and just couldn't quite decide on one.
Last night during a thunderstorm and power outage I kept thinking of ice cream. Temperatures were still really hot and with no AC the humidity levels were rising in the house. Ice cream would have tasted so nice.
Power finally came back on around 1am and at 5:30 when I got up I still wanted Ice cream!
The house is now cooled back down; even with more temperate temperatures (around 90) outside the heat index is near 100. Since the freezer is Ice cream free I made my shaped card in the shape of an Ice Cream Cone.


The lady (Rita) who is to receive this is in Texas; I'm sure she could use some cooling off. Hope she likes strawberry ice cream!

A few more items

I worked on a few other cards in the past few weeks.  The first four are from a Paper Pumpkin kit by Stampin' Up!  Since making them I did add a few fabric flowers to some of them.  Today I received the July Paper Pumpkin kit so look for something added in the next few days (they are not always cards).

Next was a card for a friend who got married a month ago (and didn't tell anyone right away) and held a reception party this past weekend.  I embossed the printed cardstock with the Victoria embossing folder by Cuttlebug.  This gave a raised texture to a beautiful cardstock (white background with a gray floral print).  I edged it on both ends with the art deco fan border punch (Martha Stewart) and inked the edges with Going Grey ink by Stampin' Up!  Cut out a block with the LOVE printed on it from a piece of cardstock from the same paper pack.  The inside is the same cardstock but black background with the gray printed floral pattern.  I then printed the sentiment in black on a piece of the lighter patterned cardstock and punched the same border on this and inked the edges again.  The card is a tri-fold design and I used a sheer ribbon to tie it closed.

Once again I had so much fun creating these cards, crafting is a relaxing endeavor for me.  I hope items I make bring as much joy to others as it does for me.  Thanks for taking the time to take a peek.

A little crafting ... just late posting.

In June I was participating in 3 swaps for a yahoogroup Arthavencreationsandfriendships, the theme was BEACH.  The 3 swaps for Postcard, Embossed Card, and Mermaid.
For the Postcard, I was inspired by one of the other ladies (Lucy) who uses photos for her cards.  These are photos that she has taken herself and have special memories.  The photo I used was one I took at the North Shore on the island of Oahu.  Then added some dimensional stickers.  Simple but I like the way it turned out.

For my Embossed card:
I borrowed a swirl embossing folder from my friend Paula, then used glue and glitter to trace over the raised swirls.  Added some twine and shell sticker and a small trim punched with an art deco fan punch.  Stamped Thinking of You (Stampin' Up!) on a coral pink card stock that I tore to distress the edge.  Mounted this on some white handmade paper (purchased from Michael's) torn the edges of this as well.

    

The Mermaid:  This I found as a coloring page (can't remember the website at the moment but will look) and printed her as a 5x7 picture.  I then used metallic colored pencils to color the features.  Her glitzy tail is covered by some turquoise glitter ribbon I found and had to have with this project in mind.  I then used stickers of shells and pearls to add the embellishments.  I love how she turned out.

These were such fun swaps to make and were well received by the other wonderfully talented ladies at Arthavencreationsandfriendships.