Any Occasion Cards - Butterflies

I made several of these and will give them to the family today at the funeral.  At this difficult time, there should be no need to run to the store for cards.  During these difficult times people pitch in and help as needed and a card of appreciation is always a nice thing to do.  The family can do as they wish with the cards and I hope they come in handy.
Another Basic Grey DSP - Granola ripped and mounted onto a black card.  The ivory canvas butterfly was hot glued to the card front.

Sympathy Cards

I made these cards for my brother in law and his family. His father Joe had a stroke in June 2015 and has been in hospital and extended care since that time.  He passed away Sunday and the funeral is today.  I have shared many meals with this man as the families lived near each other and extended family was included in birthday and other celebrations. He will be sorely missed.  I believe he is in a better place.  

The pear paper is by Basic Grey DSP. One card is coordinated with teal card stock and the other with a brown card.  The greetings are Stampin Up Word Window punchies.  I have hot glued ivory canvas butterflies on all three.  On the 2 pear ones I have added grosgrain ribbon in coordinating colors.

The polka dot paper is by Bella Blvd - One Fall Day - Needle in a Haystack. 

HB - Pink and Blue

I made this card for a friend who celebrated a birthday recently and I'm seeing her today. 

I started with the Stampin Up Winter Bright DSP, which I chose the strips.  I then cut a layer of Bashful Blue textured and adhered it to the card front.  I then adhered the 3.25" square piece of DSP to the top half of the layer.  I cut a flower from Pretty in Pink with the Blossom Party die.  I cut a butterfly from Bashful Blue and layered it onto the flower.  I stamped the sentiment from the Perfect Punches stamp set in Garden Green on Whisper White.  I cut it out by hand because my extra large oval punch has stopped punching.  I mounted it to the card front with 3D foam tape.

Share Your Cup - This Week

I made a proposal early in January in hopes of getting an order for my photo calendars.  I had been thinking about changing the first sheet and I took the opportunity to try it out.  I replaced the front photo with a small sheet of vellum with the pertinent details.  It goes over the dates of the calendar till it's time to start using the calendar.  This will help for customers to immediately recognize it as a calendar.


The photo on the right is the first sheet for the 2106 Garden calendar.  I know it says photo calendar but I think it's better to actually let me see the calendar part.  We'll see if it helps for the sale of the 2017 ones when they come out later this year.

Check out my feature post and you could win a 2016 Up Close calendar in my blog giveaway. 

This week, I was working on preparation for Card Club which I will teach on Monday.  I wanted to create a card which would work of Valentines, Wedding or Anniversary.  I decided to use paper heart doilies.  The designer papers I had selected were all in the warm tones so I wanted to warm up the white doilies. I pulled out my trusty Tim Holtz Distress Stain Antique Linen to just change the color a bit.  This is what I got! Green!!  Needless to say I had to change my strategy to one that would work with white hearts. 
After a search on line I found this post which identifies the same problem. The Tattered Rose has turned green as well.  Once I check all my bottles I guess a call to Ranger will be in my future.
UPDATE:  My replacement bottles of Tim Holtz Distress Stain arrived today, March 3, 2016.  Ranger provides great customer service and stands by their products.

I store my 12x12 designer paper in plastic drawer organizers.  One drawer holds my DSP scraps, in hopes that they will be used in another project.  This week I just had to clear out the paper scraps I was never going to use.  Some of these I have been looking at for at least 5 years and every time I would come and look for a scrap I would see them.  I was able to let go of them this week and put them in a bag headed to the ReUse Centre.  I'm sure some teacher looking for scraps for her grade 1 class will appreciate a nice collection of small pieces which can be cut up into a mosaic, a paper strip project or something else which I can't even conceive.  I can close the drawer with out doing the shuffle.  I can easily see what I have because this is much less of it, and I'm feeling lighter.
The next task in the de-stashing is gift wrap rolls.  More about that later.

Submitting to Share Your Cup hosted by Carol at Art and Sand.

Card Order - Sympathy Cards

I made these sympathy cards by recycling pieces of used greeting cards.  Many people prefer to give me the card they receive rather than throwing them away.  I have a large collection and need to start decluttering myself.   At least these are not hitting the landfill.
I just sorted and found images I felt worked with the sympathy theme. I printed the border and sentiment on neutral card stock in a coordinating color. I then trimmed the recycled colored image to fit inside. 

I have a good variety of images which would work for guys and gals.  I'm very happy with the way they turned out. 

I have card club cards to work on next.

Mosaic Monday - Stills & Tea

While under the weather recently I decided that I would change from my regular Rooibios Chai with cream to a tea with no cream.  I found Jade Citrus Mint from Teavana which is a green tea that I could drink with just a bit of honey.  It is delicious.

I selected a clear glass cake stand onto which I placed some glass ornaments. The collection includes matte white pine cones & shiny round balls, matte silver balls, pearl hearts, and mercury glass stars.

I continue to set up tea related stills.  I have reorganized my storage of table setting materials so I can see them all at once.

I chose the white lacy edge tray, the navy tea pot with 2 of the matching cups, a yellow vase with sunflowers and a yellow candle on a mercury glass holder.

Submitting to Mosaic Monday hosted by Judith at Lavender Cottage.

Card Order - Encouragment

I prepared these cards for a friend who ordered encouragement cards.  After researching the internet, most cards had the scripture on the front which was a good thing.  I was looking for some images I could use as backgrounds for the scriptures.  I don't have much in my inventory of watercolor.  I became aware of this site that offers images for free for all kinds of projects. I did some searching and found paintings there as well.  Pixabay has a lot to offer.  
I'm super happy with the way the card turned out.

Birthday Card Order - Set 2

The focal element on this card is the designer paper by Karen Foster named My Granda, My Hero Collage Paper.  I chose a layer of light blue behind the paper to which I glued the ripped DSP.  I added this layer to the dark warm blue card base.  I printed the greeting and punched it with the Stampin Up 1 1/4 inch circle punch and then glued it to a 1 3/8 dark blue circle.  The greeting was adhered to the card front with 3D foam tape.




This card is very similar except of orientation in portrait and the layer is grey.

I used leftovers pieces of designer paper from a calendar project last year.  I trimmed the strips of designer paper in patterned and lavendar colors.  I rounded the bottom ends with a circle punch.  I adhered them directly to the the green card front.  I added a length of ribbed ivory ribbon across the bottom half and taped the ends to the inside of the card.  I added a canvas flower held in place with Zots.  I then cut a button from lavender card stock and added thread to the holes.  The button was then added to the center of the flower with a Zot.  I printed a greeting in lavender and trimmed close to the border then adhered it to the card front with 3D foam tape.

This card is similar with the same family of designer paper in warm pinks.  It features a green layer between the DP and the soft green card base.

Birthday Card Order - Set 1

I made several birthday cards for a friend.  She wanted cards for their sons and daughters.

Left: For this card I chose double sided designer card stock by Webster Pages called Winter Wonder and placed the fold at the top.  I cut the Spellbinder A2 Ribbon Threader die in white card stock.  I added a length of pink seam binding threaded through the slots, tied a knot and trimmed the ends.  I adhered that to the card front.  I then printed the greeting which features a background I designed with the sentiment in a shaded oval.  This was trimmed and adhered in the center of the die cut.

Right: I chose double sided designer paper in this hounds tooth type pattern by Authentique - Autumn
Three.  I selected a deep terracotta color for the card base.  I tied a piece of dark chocolate brown seam binding about the DSP before I adhered it to the card front.  The  knot was placed to the right so I could place the greeting on the left.  The greeting was designed with a digital rope oval frame into which I added the sentiment.  Once printed, I cut it with the Stampin Up Window Frame framelits.  I added a square (2 3/8") of the same card stock as the card behind.  This was mounted to the card front with 3D foam tape.

I started with a light green card base.  I cut a layer from the Winter Wonder DSP as I used in the first card.  I tied a piece of pink seam binding around the DSP aligned on the right side.  I then tied another piece onto it to make the bow. This was then adhered to the card front. I created a digital version of the pop bottle flower from this project.  I designed the greeting with the digital flower, an oval and the sentiment in dark grey with a frame. It printed and trimmed to the edge and mounted to the DSP layer to the left of the bow.

This card is made with the reverse side of the designer paper from card two on the same card stock.  I tied a piece of dark chocolate seam binding across the bottom third of the DSP then adhered it to the card front.  I then printed the greeting with a tree from CKLER.  I added the square measuring 2 3/8 inches of the color as the card.  This was adhered to the card front with 3D foam tape.

Friday Hunt V1.3

C is for Coffee Spoons - I've been looking for some small silver plate spoons to use while I serve tea.  These can be used to stir tea in a tea cup, serve jam or jelly, or to add sugar to the tea. When I went through my Mom's collection I kept my baby spoons and one from on a trip my Mom and I took many years ago.  I had hoped to find several in a similar simple pattern and a recent trip to the thrift store delivered. 
The left one is made by 1847 Rogers Bros, the pattern is First Love, and it's a coffee/demi tasse spoon which is smaller than the tea spoon. The pattern was manufactured from 1937 to 1973 which makes the spoon at least 43 years old.  I got 11 of them so that will be enough for my needs. 
The centre one is by Oneida Community silver plate, pattern is Affection and the pattern was produced starting in 1960.
The right one is made by Viners of Sheffield - England, pattern is VS34, and not sure when it was made. 

My favorite is a glass tile I bought a thrift store.  I loved the image of doors and a tile floor. It's glass on ceramic I think.  There's no tag or any documentation so I'm at a loss.  It's shiny and really pretty.

Inside: It is very cold outside and I have been feeling under the weather. This is the corner on my sofa where I spent some time this weekend. With meds I should be feeling better soon.


Joining Friday Hunt V1.3 hosted by Teresa at Eden Hills

Mosaic Monday - Weekend

I took a photo of the frost on the trees and wires.  It was good to spend time with my sister and niece for a girl's weekend.  Mostly thrift store shopping so not too hard on the budget with a delicious lunch out at a cool restaurant on Saturday.  We spending time brain storming ideas for our projects and just visiting.






I met my aunt at the Deep Freeze Festival on Sunday.  The weather had warmed up so it was nice to spend a bit of time out doors.  We had a visit over supper.




This is a thrift store find from last week.  A Royal Worcester fine bone china tea cup and saucer the pure white Serendipity pattern.  The cost was next to nothing.  My watching Antiques Roadshow paid off because I recognized the name right away.  No chips or cracks.


Submitting to Mosaic Monday hosted by Judith at Lavender Cottage.

Share Your Cup - Cards, Original Paper and Tea

I'm joining Share Your Cup hosted by Carol at Art and Sand.

I've been busy already this year.
I am working on a card order for a client and here are a couple of the cards I have made so far.  I have quite a few more to make.  I will blog the collection with it is complete.







I create some decorative paper for cards to replenish my supply of Unique Cards at the gallery. I made 15 sheets of paper with various colors.  This blue makes me think summer and blue ocean water.







I have been relaxing too!  I started enjoying the several loose teas I received at Christmas.  I received a Christmas Tea, Masala Chai and this Christmas Collection of herbal teas from Tea Desire.

Christmas Card Challenge - Jan - Gold / Star

This is my first Christmas card in 2016.  I run a challenge on this blog every month to get my Christmas cards made by December 1st.  January's challenge is Gold / Star.  I started with a deep red card.  I mounted a piece of designer paper by Carta Bella - Christmas Time by Carina Gardner - Christmas Tags, this is the back side.  I color printed my red greetings onto vellum and clear embossed them.  I ripped the top and bottom edges.  There was not enough contrast against the green patterned paper so I added a strip of white card stock between the designer paper and the vellum.  Both were trimmed to the edge of the designer paper.  I cut the star from gold glitter paper with the Sizzix Star & Starburst die.  I mounted it to the left of the greeting with 3D foam tape.

Please join me making Christmas cards every month.  You can find the themes for each month here.  If you make cards leave me a comment with a link to your cards and I will check them out.

Christmas Thank You Cards - Round 2

Here's the second gift wrap paper I used for Christmas thank you cards. Traditional red, green and white.  This paper was heavy prism paper so it was great to work with.  I cut it to 4.00x5.25 inches and adhered it to the front of a white card. I added 3 white snow flake punchies along the bottom of the card using the lines on the paper for alignment.  I then added an oval punchie with the sentiment in the top right hand corner. 

I made several so that completes what I need to express my appreciation to family and friends for the gifts of many kinds I received this Christmas season.

Christmas Thank You Card

I started my Thank You cards for the gifts I received during the Christmas season.  I generally like to use the gift wrap from the packages in my cards.

This paper was very cute with rows of colorful little houses.  I have to select my pieces carefully as there are places that were folded, had been taped and of course at times the paper was ripped.  I found card stock to really match this gift wrap.  I cut the paper with the Stampin Up Top Note die, then I cut the turquoise in 2 pieces so that I could make sure the full back of the paper was supported after I had offset it.  Then I layered this onto a piece of navy card stock then onto a hot pink card.  I chose a piece of turquoise card stock and stamped it with the Hero Arts gratitude stamp in navy ink.  I ripped it above and below the sentiment and then glued it across the card.  I made several so I well on my way to having the number I need.

I'm getting together with this friend tonight for our annual movie night following the holidays. 

Mosaic Monday - Inside and Out

I took a few outside pictures recently.  The pine trees line a drive way and stand straight and snow covered.  The deciduous trees in the background are catching the sunlight and look lit up providing a contrast for the dark green evergreens.















I am working on still life photography right now.  This is a clear glass tea pot with pink tea inside.  I was looking for a tea that would complement the red charger plate and turned out to be the Oprah Chai Tea.

















A picture of train tracks curving off into unknown parts. As I enter 2016 not knowing what the year will bring I look forward to new experiences.

Friday's Hunt - V1.1

I'm joining Friday's Hunt hosted by Teresa at Eden Hills where we can post photos interpreting the prompts for the week.

The prompts for this week are:

• Starts with A
• This week's favorite
• Celebrate

Starts with A: I chose Alone
I found this horse alone in the paddock.  He's looking at me like "What are you up to?" The frost on the trees was really nice.

This week's favorite:
A wool hot spot which I received this week from my niece (a late Christmas gift).  Sunflowers are my favorite flower and now I will have one sitting on my table all year till my Christmas stuff comes out. I love it!!! The photo was taken on my red Christmas table cloth.

Celebrate:
I took a picture of the Christmas cards I received this year.  Actually, they are not all in the photo because I had more than I could fit on my card holder.  This is something to celebrate that many people wanted to share Christmas greetings. As a card maker that make my heart happy!!!

2016 Hot Tea Month - Blog Give Away

Did you know that January is the Hot Tea Month? Yes, according to the Tea Association of Canada it is confirmed.
Enjoy a cup today!

I am working on a collection of tea related photos. (Keep an eye out here for those later this year.) This prompted me get started right away. I set up a navy blue place mat on white table cloth with a bone china teacup and saucer set which repeats the blue.  I set up a clear glass plate topped with goodies.  I made Roobois with Tulis - Lemon Tree tea in my clear tea pot.  This was part of a herbal tea gift set from Tea Desire.  It smells and tastes great!!!

Here's a few excerpts from a Times article.
Real tea is derived from a particular plant (Camellia sinensis) and includes only four varieties: green, black, white, and oolong. Anything else (like herbal “tea”) is an infusion of a different plant and isn’t technically tea.
But what real tea lacks in variety, it makes up for with some serious health benefits. Researchers attribute tea’s health properties to polyphenols (a type of antioxidant) and phytochemicals. Though most studies have focused on the better-known green and black teas, white and oolong also bring benefits to the table.  You can view the full text here.

My favorite loose tea is Roobois Chai.  I've purchased some from nearly every tea company around. The Tazo Joy tea is my favorite Christmas tea.

What is your favorite tea?  Leave me a comment.

At the end of the month I will choose 2 people to receive one of my 4x6 Up Close photo calendars.

2016 Christmas Card Challenge

Here are the challenges I have set up for my Christmas Cards making in 2016. I have learned that making Christmas cards each month ensures my sanity in December when by the 1st all I have to do is address them and send them off.  In order to achieve this goal I create guidelines for my card challenge each month.

Each month has a Color and Element.  You can choose one or both to help you stretch your creativity. I will keep the following techniques in mind and see which I can included in my designs:  Painting, Die Cutting or Embossing.

I hope you will join me in making cards each month.  If you do, please post a comment with a link to your card so all can enjoy it.

2016	Color	Element
January	Gold	Star (5 or 6 points)
February	Navy	Snow (bank, flake)
March	Purple	Wiseman
April	Green	Foliage (Wreath, Poinsettia)
May	Red	Sled, sleigh
June	Silver	Large Words
July	Turquoise	Ornament
August	Light Blue	Winter
September	Lavender	Bethlehem
October	Black	Polar Bear
November	Copper	Jesus Nativity
December	Brown	Tree

Happy New Year 2016

Wishing you a very happy new year in 2016.  I'm looking forward to the changes which will take place in life this year.  I'm glad to leave some of the events of 2015 behind and move forward with optimism and gratitude.