HCBC Post #5

Hello Bloggers,

Just want to take a quick moment to post the most recent cards I made for HCBC.  The inspiration for card was from Joy Taylor, one of the guest designers.  I thought I would use the design for some Hanukkah cards.  Hope you all have a good evening.

The white cardstock is embossed with white embossing powder, then I used tape on the sides and sprinkled on some Diamond Dust.

I cut the rosette with my Silhouette; it even cut notches for folding. I was impressed. I made the Star of David on the computer, colored it with some copics and applied multiple layers of UTEE and the cracked it (yes, the cracks are intentional).

 

HCBC Post #4

Hello Bloggers,

Just a quickie tonight to post the cards that I made last night.  Inspiration came from Jennifer McGuire.  I've never made a photo card, but I thought Jennifer's bookmark idea was unique, so I decided to make this set of cards using that idea, but instead of people, I used pictures of my pets.  My nieces absolutely love our animals and are also avid readers, so these cards will be going to them. 

Card base is my fave kraft cardstock from Papertrey Ink.  The background was stamped with a Hero Arts stamped called Holiday Backgrounds.

I followed Jennifer McGuire's tutorial to make the holiday leaves using round punches.  The smaller on is from a Martha Stewart punch.  I inked the leaves with Peeled Paint Distress Ink from Tim Holtz and added a bit of Peeled Paint Distress Stickles to add a bit of shine.

I added a couple of flat back pearls from Martha Stewart and used some baker's twine from Papertrey Ink.  The sentiment is a Hero Arts clear stamp set (unnamed).

HCBC Post #3

Hello Bloggers,

We're already into week number 2 of Holiday Card Boot Camp.  Time is flying by.  I've gotten tons of great ideas and tips and have been able to get a great head-start with my holiday cards.  Today's post was inspired from a sketch from Kristina Werner.  I fired up my Silhouette for most of the card.  Yea for me; that was one of my goals! 

I used cardstock from Papertrey Ink for the card base and bazzil cardstock for the lavender circle which was embossed with the Swiss Dots folder.  I used Webster's Pages for the scallop circle.

I used the "Snowflakes Shapes" stamp set from Hero Arts for the snowflake and tied a little bow with button twine from Papertrey Ink.  I colored up some clear gems with a copic marker (V99) to color the stones.

I used Jennifer McGuire's technique for making the banner.  The sentiment was stamped with a TPC Studio stamp called "Christmas Greetings".

HCBC Post #2

Hello Bloggers,

Well, another weekend is over, yet again.  My, they go by so fast.  I was able to complete another set of Christmas cards following a technique by Jennifer McGuire using an embossing folder, distress inks and pearlized water.  The background is gorgeous irl, don't know if you'll be able to see it in the pictures.  There's a couple of other techniques I'm dying to try; hopefully I'll be able to squeeze some time in this week.  We'll see...

I used the Snowflake embossing folder by Tim Holtz and Spun Sugar and Bundled Sage distress ink to ink up the embossed card.  I like using non-traditional colors for my cards.  The card is then sprayed with some Frost Shimmer Spritz.

It's hard to see, but the snowflake is covered in Rock Candy Distress Stickles and it's layered on top of some pretty pink seam binding.  The button is a cut from a die, covered with glossy accents and tied up with a wee bit of bakers twine.

You can make out the shimmer here.  

I cut "Believe" with my Silhouette.

 

Holiday Card Boot Camp 2011

Hello Bloggers,

Welcome to the weekend!  In an effort to get a head start and get some inspiration for my Christmas cards for this year, I decided to enroll in an online card class.  This years teachers are Jennifer McGuire and Kristina Werner.  I've already gotten so much inspiration and tips and I've only viewed two days worth of videos.  There were a couple of cards that I wanted to make and wanted to complete them entirely before viewing the "assignments" for days, 3,4 and 5.  The great thing about the class, is that you can move and create at your own pace and after the two weeks are up, you have lifetime access to the sites and all of tutorial videos.  It's not too late to enroll, so check it out!

Today's share are the two cards, well actually four since I try to make duplicates of the cards, especially for the Holidays.  My goal for this year was to use items from my stash that were purchased last year and NEVER were used.  So far, I've used 4 of those items!  I plan on watching the rest of the videos this weekend and hope to be able to create a few more cards!

I was inspired by Kristina Werner and broke out 2 Tim Holtz dies to cut the ornament for this card.  The paper is Lost & Found Christmas from My Minds Eye and the card base in kraft cardstock from Papertrey Ink. 

I used gold embossing power for the top of the ornament and added a jingle bell and twine from my stash.

Jennifer McGuire inspired this card.  I used an embossing folder from last years purchases (Tim Holtz snowman die).  Again, the paper for the card base is from Papertrey Ink.  I inked the snowman with some Antique Linen distress ink and added a bit of stickles to the snowflakes.

Jennifer showed up a wonderful tutorial to make the 3-D star.  I love it!!  I used paper from the Jovial paper pad from Basic Grey and again used a bit of stickles to highlight the star.

The sentiment is from a set I got a few years ago from Papertrey Ink.

Another Art Journal

Hello Bloggers,
Tonight's share is the 2nd half of the art journal that I posted a few weeks ago.  This is a "just because" for a friends daughter.  Just to recap, I purchase a sketch book, removed the binding wire, cut it in half and re-bound it into two books.  It was so fun embellishing the cover.  This book is going to a little girl that's a bit older than the first, so I was able to use some more "grown-up" embellies.

The paper used is Que Sera Sera from K& Company.

The image is Poppy from Tiddly Inks colored up with my copic markers.

I used pink poppies and gypsophila from Wild Orchid Crafts.  The butterfly bling is Recollections from Michael's and finished it up with crystal flowers and a black ribbon flower from a couple of Etsy shops.

"ART" and the sentiment underneath is from a Unity Stamp set.

Promised Snow Pictures

Hello Bloggers,
Well, better late than never...  here are the promised snow pictures.  I can't believe that I'm even posting these at this time of the year.  We did lose power for a short period of time; 24 hours to be exact.  That may seem like a long time to some, but there are still those here in CT that have been out since Saturday and not expected to get power back until Sunday.  I can't even imagine being out for 8 days and it's been so cold in the evenings; in the 20's. There were over 800,000 people out at one point; right now, we're down to about 500,000. 

In total, we ended up getting 18 inches of snow.  Historical storm and most likely will never happen again in my lifetime!  The snow was so heavy and dense and stuck to everything and with the leaves still on the trees, well you can only imagine how many of those trees fell and took out power lines.  Hope you all enjoyed your Halloween.  Ours was cancelled; too dangerous for all of the kiddies.  Have a great rest of the week and I surely hope to be able to finish up with my crafting projects that are in progress!

My husband knocking the snow off of our beautiful cherry tree.

Our poor little Japanese maple...

View of the back deck Sunday morning.

Even with attempting to keep the snow cleared off the cherry tree, it still was weighted down the next morning.  We ended up losing only one branch...

This looks like January, not October!!