MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND BLOGHOP for OPERATION WRITE HOME

Winner of the Memorial Day Blog hop Candy is jackielwatson said...
where do I begin gorgeous card and the best tutorial I have seen so far. I will try this because it looks fun, messy and cool. Thanks for sharing your artwork and ideas.
  Congratulations Jackie, please email me your address so I can get your prize out to you.  Thank you Jackie and everyone else who stopped by for the hop, hope to see you all again next year!
Memorial Day is a special day to honor and thank all the men and women serving and who have served to protect our freedom.  Thank you for your sacrifices and for the sacrifices your family's make every day. 
If you are just starting here, go to the beginning of the hop  Operation Write Home.  That way you won't miss anything, there are lots of freebies and blog candy along the way.  Be sure to see what you can do to help also, Operation Write Home needs card donations all year long.

I made this card using some of my bubble dp, the sentiment is Just Rite,  frame Spellbinders Deckled Mega Rectangles Nestabilities and the cute sailor image is Seth can Swim, a digital stamp from Kahwinkedink.   I found the unusual lay out at Crazy 4 Challenges. 

I thought it would be fun to share an old  tutorial post on how to make designer paper out of food coloring, sugar and bubbles.  This is lots of fun to share with the kids, preferably outdoors!

Bubble Card Stock Recipe

Plastic tablecloth or protective cover for your table, plates to catch the bubble drips, small bowls, water and 1 teaspoon of sugar per small bowl. 1 bottle of bubbles- I only used 1/4 of this small bottle for all 5 dishes. Straws, food coloring (I used Neon Bright's I found at $store)

Sorry my recipe did not give a measurement for anything but the sugar. I did approximately 1 part bubbles to 2 parts water (free pour) and I added more food coloring as needed.

Card stock, I cut 8 1/2 x 11 sheets in 1/2 to make them a little easier to manage. I also try different colors because you never know what combination will look best. Rubber gloves are a good idea and old clothes for the little ones.

Now let the fun begin! Mix your water, bubbles, sugar and food coloring with your straw and start blowing bubbles! This was so much fun, and the bubbles were such beautiful colors too! Put a plate or old pie tin underneath to catch the mess, I figured that out a little late.

Notice the difference in the 2 bowls of bubbles? You want your bubbles to look like the top picture BIG, not the little bubbles near the straw in the second picture. Small bubbles make a large dark spot on your card stock.

Hold your card stock over the top of the bowl and let the card stock smash or break your bubbles. Pick up the card stock and move it around to fresh bubbles and keep doing this till you fill the page with bubbles (you may have to blow more bubbles to finish the page).

This was messy ,1/2 way through I added a plate underneath.

Above the card stock drying out on the table,

below you can see it brightens up after it dry's for 24 hours.

I do hope you decide to give this a try, it will definitely release the inner child in you. So now that you have your very own designer bubble card stock what will you create with it?

TO ENTER for the blog candy just leave me a comment, if you want to follow me I would be honored, but it's not necessary to win.  I will post the winner on Thursday, please contact me by e mail, (you can find my email by clicking on MY PROFILE)  if I don't hear from you within 10 days I will pick another winner.  Thanks for looking, enjoy the hop! ~Diane 

 NEXT STOP ON THE HOP  Lisa at http://mldesignworks.blogspot.com/

Exciting news to share!

No card today, but I do want to share some exciting news with you.  Next Thursday I will begin posting along with a talented group of designers for Lindsays Stamp Stuff. I am truly honored to be a part of this professional group of crafters.   Lindsay has an awesome online digi store and so much more.  She has loads of resources available on her blog The Frugal Crafter.  This week she has a video demonstrating how you can lean to paint the above scenic watercolor in less than 10 minutes.  This is awesome!  I can't believe she offers this class for free, and she also has a gorgeous Seaside Paper freebie you can pick up while you are there!   Please stop by to see what the rest of the LSS DT has to offer this week.  As always, thanks for looking, ~Diane

Lindsay Weirich (Owner & Stamp Designer)
Cheryl Gorka (DT Coordinator)
Cindi Hooks
Diane Bove
Jennifer Bliss
Karin Martin
Leanne Garner
Lisa Jurecek
Margie Visnick
Melissa Craig
Rebekah Doak
Rhonda Walker
Shannon Neparko
Tamara Bennett
Tracey Allen

Jen Jumps Rope

For this weeks challenge of Sticks and Stones at Kahwinkedink I chose to use "rhinestones" on my card. This sweet little image is Jen Jumps Rope, she just makes me want to smile!  I followed the card sketch at Card Patterns Weekly Sketch Blog.  I used the pink and green colors from Forever Friends challenge blog.  I used DCWV Blossoms and Butterflies card stock,  Spellbinders Petite Ovals Nestabilities, and Cuttlebug Swiss dots embossing folder.  Be sure to stop by Kahwinkedink  today to pick up your Tuesday freebie digi image.  Thanks for looking, ~Diane

Ready 2 Rock

The challenge at Bitten by the Bug 2  uses the Hannah Montana Cartridge, Ready 2 Rock.    I don't have this cartridge, but they do allow improvisation.  So I used my Cricut Plantin Schoolbook to cut the Ready 2 Rock, and the Cuttlebug 5x7  Oriental Weave embossing folder on my silver foil card stock.  This is a 5 x 7 card, the guitar is Iron on Art by Horizon Group, it is made for fabric but it worked very well by ironing it on to my card stock.  The little metal sandals have been in my craft box forever. A big thanks to the BBTB2 group, they always have a great idea for a challenge, and lots of Cricut inspiration!.  Thanks for looking, ~Diane

Kahwinkedink Challenge week 3

This weeks challenge over at Kahwinkedink is to make your own embellishment.  I made mine with the Imaginisce i*top Medium Topper Punch, using the same DCWV dp.  I then added a bumblebee that I stamped onto clear polyester and added some Stampin Up Crystal effects to.  I added some seed beads to the flowers in this sweet digi image Primitive Flowers, from Kahwinkedink, I love the simplicity of this image, it's one of my favorites.  Stop by the Kahwinkedink blog and pick up your Tuesday freebie and see what the rest of the talented design team has made. 

I used this layout, Sweet Sketch 49 from Arlana at Sweet Sketch Wednesday for this card, this is definitely a keeper too, I really like this lay out.  As you can see I turned it sideways.  I will enter this into their challenge.   Also The Crazy Challenge for something new, my Primitive Flower digi. 

I used Spellbinders Deckled Mega Rectangles Nestabilities , the bumblebee is from a retired Stampin Up set and the dp is DCWV The Glitter Stack, and I almost forgot, I embossed it with a Sizzix Texture Plate.    Thanks for looking, ~Diane

Crafty Secrets Friendship and Flowers

I made this card for the Crafty Secrets Challenge I am co hosting at Paper Craft Planet.  The challenge is Flowers,  please stop by and see what the other Crafty Secrets lovers have made.  I found this fun challenge site on my  friend Mona's blog, it is called
2 Sketches 4 You  it is hosted by Kazan Clark and Laura Davis.  I used their fab sketch to make this card, I'm not sure if I can post their sketch here, so you will have to go check it out.  I would also like to enter this into the Let your Garden Grow challenge to make  DIY flowers at Quixotic Challenges.  I actually bought the lovely little pearl centers for my flowers at Quixotic Paperie, and I am in love with them.  And last but not least my friends at Order of the Opus Gluei are hosting a challenge to use ribbon in a different way.  This is a 5 x 7 card, I used Memory Botique cs, Crafty Secrets Friendship and Flowers image, velvet ribbons and rhinestone lace are from JoAnns.  I embossed the cs with Cuttlebug A2  Japanese Scales embossing folder, I cut the flowers with Cricut Pagoda, colored them in with Niji Pearlescent Watercolor Set and set Quixotic Flat Backed Pearls - 4mm - Cappucino - in the centers.  Thanks for looking, ~Diane

Kahwinkedink Challenge Week 2

Good Morning, this weeks Tuesday challenge at Kahwinkedink is to make a Mans Card.  This is normally such a challenge for me but with the new Military Men images it was easy!  I used the Tank You image for my card.  I used the paper piecing technique and printed the images onto this camouflage dp from Paper Pizzaz.  The silver cs is from Stampin Up, I embossed the Tim Holtz ideaology sprocket gears right on to it with my Wizard.  The words were cut with Cricut Plantin Schoolbook.  Stop over to the Kahwinkedink blog and join us for this challenge.  You can pick up the free digi of the week while you are there.  Thanks for looking, ~Diane

Contemporary Butterfly

I made this card for 2 challenges.  The challenge at Tellens Place is to use more than 1butterfly or a dragonfly in your project.  I also used the sketch at Sweet Sketch Wednesdays for the lay out.  Actually I goofed and had only 1 butterfly, as I was writing this post I noticed the word MORE than one, in bold no less.  Off I dashed to add more butterflies, ha ha.  Card Stock is DCWV Blossoms and Butterflies,  I used Spellbinders Lotus Pendant and Shapeabilities, Spellbinders Ribbon Tags Trio Shapeabilities.  The butterflies are  Stampin up Wonderful Wings and Martha Stewart medium punch.  I finally tried out the Imaginisce i*top Brad Maker, Small Topper Punch,  Small Brad Daddies that I won.  These were so easy to make, and I like the contemporary look they gave to this card.  I can see where making these can be addictive!  The ribbon I had was a bright white, so I used Ranger's Tim Holtz Distress Ink Scattered Straw to give it the same yellow tinge that the dp had.  I really like the Ranger distressing inks!  The stamped sentiment is a Just Rite stamp.  Thanks for looking, ~Diane

Play Date Cafe Challenge card.

I made this card for the Play Date Cafe Challenge to use these colors for inspiration.  I love these colors together, I remember when I was 10 I had a favorite skirt that was pleated and plaid (Oh yes) in these exact colors.  

These awesome images are from Birds Cards, she has a ton of beautiful digital images and they are all free.  I learned some tips from Bird too on how to do the shading, you must visit her site.    Paper is Around the Block Ash filigree , and I used a snip of vellum on the lamp shade.  I used the Spellbinders Labels 8 and  Petite Ovals Nestabilities.  Stampin Up Texturz Plates Backgrounds #1 Flourish and Perfect Details.  I finished it off with some glitter, pearls, a feather and a flower.  Thanks for looking, ~Diane

Kahwinkedink Design Team

I am happy to announce that I will be on the design team for Kahwinkedink digi images with my good friend Kristen.   You can look forward to seeing her images here every Tuesday.  Hop over to her blog and see what the amazing design team has made, and while you're there pick up the free image of the week.  This week's freebie is this cute little sun Here Comes The Sun

So without further adieu, here is the new DT,

Scrappy   http://big-scrappy-world.blogspot.com/ 

Tink  http://tinktime-tink.blogspot.com/
Courtney  http://atouchofpink-courtney.blogspot.com/
I made this weeks card for the Tuesday Challenge at Kahwinkedink to use blue.  That was easy with these adorable swimming images.  I used  Tristan Deep Sea Diving,  Floaties  and  Here Comes The Sun    (this weeks Tuesday  Freebie).  I made the bubble ocean paper with dish soap, bubbles and food coloring.  You can find the tutorial for it in my sidebar.  Thanks for looking, ~Diane

05/01/10 Heartwarming Vintage/Crafty Secrets bi-weekly challenge

I made this Shadowbox for the  Heartwarming Vintage/Crafty Secrets bi-weekly challenge Jan and I are hosting at Paper Craft Planet.  If you love Crafty Secrets Products, this is the group for you!  Jan has challenged us to use a photo in our project.  This is my favorite photo of my Mother and Father in law taken while they were dating in Italy. 

I used the Crafty Secrets Cotton Scraps- Family, along with the Accucut Shadow Box Portrait Designed by Vicki Chrisman.  The lace paper is Karen Foster antique lace, lace, Victoria Lynn ribbon rose, flowers and ribbon from JoAnns, heart shaped button from my button box.  I used Tattered Angels Glimmer Screens Fanciful with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Coffee Shop, and Ranger's Tim Holtz Distress Ink Antique Linen.  Thanks for looking, ~Diane

More of my Passion for Pop Ups

In case you haven't noticed, I love pop up cards, this one is based on what is called the simple box.  I made this for a sweet friend to give to her Mum for Mothers Day.  I am entering it into the following challenges.

  Our Creative Corner is challenging us to use blossoms on our cards.

Dare U 2 Digi Stamp Challenge 36 is Flowers.

Digital Tuesday Challenge April flowers or April Showers.

Allsorts Challenge has the photo below as an inspiration. 

Here's what I used to make this card.  Card Front - Mum cut with  Cricut Plantin Schoolbook, Pink Passion card stock, Wonderful Wings, Baroque Motifs Stampin Up, Krylon 18 kt gold leafing pen,  Cuttlebug D'vine Swirls embossing folder.  

Inside - If you look closely you will see 5 tiny butterflies punched with Marvy Standard & Jumbo butterfly punch.  My flowers are a combination, the majority are from Sarah Paris Butterfly Garden Digi Stamps.   I purchased from My Grafico, 1 flower is from Inkadoo Doodle Flowers and 1 other from Stampin Up Polka Dots and Petals.  Vellum insert and butterflies from Paper and More.  Martha Stewart lace punch and Ranger's Tim Holtz Distress Ink worn lipstick.  Floral paper and glitter from JoAnns.   Whew!  I used a lot of products on this little card, which by the way is 4 1/4 x 5 1/2.    If you are interested, I do have instructions on how to make a Pop Up card in an older post.  You will find it under Pop Ups and again in Tutorials in my sidebar. Thanks for looking, ~Diane 

My first ATC

 Wow!  My first ATC and I won the challenge at Tellens Place!  And I won a $10.00 gift certificate to Scrapbook.com!  Thank you so very much! 

I made this ATC for the challenge at Tellens Place.  This is my first ATC, I was a feeling a bit awkward, I usually make 5 x 7 cards so this was really tiny for me.  I am glad though, towards the end it started to  come together for me.  And when ever I do something new I grow.  The darling digi image is from Tellens Place, the paper is DCWV The Sweet Stack, 2 scrap ribbons and the ric rac is new all from JoAnns.  I used a little foam to lift the images off the card stock. I also used Ranger's Tim Holtz Distress Ink worn lipstick.   BTW, those are chocolate chip cookies I am mixing up in the bowl, ha ha.  Thanks for looking, ~Diane

Tuesdays Tools - Firefox QuickNote

I have found some exciting and helpful tools that make my life and writing this blog so much easier!  I would love to share them with you.  I am not a very technical or computer savvy person so I have written this for people like me.  If you copy and print this out you will literally be able to go step by step. 

Today I will share Firefox QuickNote, for this add on you will need Firefox as your browser.  Firefox is just another free browser, like Internet Explorer or Opera.  These tools are only available on Firefox, the other browsers may have something similar that I am not aware of.

If you have Firefox go to Tools at the top of your page, click on Add Ons then you will be at Get Add Ons.  There will be a search box (search all add ons) you will type in QuickNote A picture of QuickNote will pop up, click on it and it will say Learn More or Add to Firefox.  You want to Add to Firefox.  A warning box will appear asking if you trust the site, you will click Install Now.  Then you will be asked to Re-Start your computer.  When you have re started it will offer to search for updates, if it does you can, if it doesn't don't worry about it just close that box.

To access QuickNote you will find it at the top of your screen in Tools, click on it and then when you scroll over QuickNote your options are Float, Sidebar and Settings.  The first time you will want to start in Settings.  This will have a section that says Number of Notes (Tabs) you will want 4.  As I am pretty low tech myself, that is the only selection I make on that page so close that window.  Go back to Tools, QuickNote and you may choose either Float or Sidebar.  You can try each one, see what one you like best.  I have 2 screens so I put mine on Float and move it to my second screen.  The nice part about 2 screens is that I can leave it (QuickNote) up, it does not disappear when I start typing on my other screen.  So it is just like having a book open to the right spot at all times.  It may look small, but you can pull the edge to make it wider and it does have a scroll bar , it will  keep getting longer as you go, so you can add to it endlessly!

So what do I do with it you ask. You are gonna LOVE this, I could not be without it.   I have divided the 4 sections into handy file drawers.

Note 2 is where I keep my gold mine, it has all of my blog information at my fingertips.  Here is where I have all of my crafting products categorized and listed.  Whenever I get a new craft product I add it to my list here.  My categories are by manufacturer - Cricut, Spellbinders, Crafty Secrets, Stampin Up, Cuttlebug, Tattered Angels, Bazzill, then Papers, Pens/Pencils/Markers/Inks and Miscellaneous.  Between each section I do a row of stars to separate them, and I write my categories all in caps so it stands out and makes it easy to find. I also double space everything.  If I have a link, like I usually link my Spellbinders and Tattered Angels products back to them, I have that right in the middle of the stars.  I never have to look it up.  I have just added a new category called Techniques.  This is where I list a web address to a tutorial or tip from someone's blog. I get so frustrated when I can't remember where I saw that neat tutorial on how to make that beautiful flower with Glimmer Mist, who do I give credit to for the idea?  Now when I come across a neat idea I have a place to file it I just add a note with the address regarding what it was.  And if I forget a step it takes me back to that page too.  I really think it's important to give credits where they are due.  I have a category called Credits where I keep my most frequented sites for digi and vintage downloads.  You will laugh at this one, I even have a category for how to write "here" so when I need to link back to my blog post to enter it into a challenge I have the little formula right there.  All I have to do is copy and paste from http to html in to the formula. (Did I mention I was low tech?)   This really beats trying to write a post and walking back and forth to my craft room to find the names of the products I used. I know what I used, it's just what is the manufactures correct name and color for what I used.  Where did I get those flowers from? What was the color or name of the Distress ink, Glimmer Mist or punch I used?  It's all here, just a copy and paste away from my blog.  And that's the other added feature, it saves me from typing it all out, I just look it up and do a copy and paste and it goes right into my post!

For the curious, note 1 is for personal stuff, reminders, quotes and such, note 3 is for anything cooking, notes recipes and sites.  Note 4 is my how to where to for anything computer related.  Once you start using this you will ask yourself how did I function without it!  I would love to hear if you try this out or if you are already using it.  I hope you found something helpful here.  Thanks for looking, ~Diane
Thank you for the Anonymous comment, I have edited my error.  I did make a mistake on the name of the program, there are actually 2 different programs.  There are 2 separate programs Firefox Quicknote which is what I use, and Firefox QuickFox Notes.  QuickFox Notes resides as an icon (yellow page) on the right hand bottom of your screen.  When you click on it to pull it up it will appear on the bottom or lower 1/2 of your screen and to be honest I am not sure as yet how to save information here.  I hope this helps.  ~Diane

More Crafty Secret Fun

This is one of the Crafty Secrets Cotton Scraps that my friend Jan shared with me.  I entered this into the Crafty Secrets Sketch challenge over at Split Coast Stampers.  I really had fun making this card, I had an opportunity to use a lot of my new products and use up some of my old stash.  I am really getting hooked on Ranger's Tim Holtz Distress Ink's, this one is Scattered Straw they are really easy to work with.    I used Anna Griffins The Wedding Studio print it yourself programs. I found them on clearance, the lovely flourish was already printed on 2 sides, I saw lots of possibility's.  I also added some Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Wheatfields.  It gave me the exact shade in the Crafty Secrets Cotton Scrap.  I found a local craft store that sells card stock by the pound and it is really nice and heavy, and I love that shade of red.  I embossed with Stampin Up Big Shot Texturz Plate Perfect Details another of my new favorites.  I also used Stampin Up Big Shot Texturz Plate Backgrounds #1.  I have had the ribbon forever, it is actually bright white but the Ranger ink took care of that. I love the button I used, it's vintage and the tiny plastic faux pearls are naturally yellowed.  Thanks for looking, ~Diane

Heartwarming Vintage Crafty Secrets challenge at PCP

Good Morning, I made this gift card holder for the Heartwarming Vintage Crafty Secrets challenge I am co-hostessing at Paper Craft Planet.  I am so excited that Jan invited me to co-hostess the bi-weekly challenges there and this is my first challenge!  This challenge is to create a gift card holder, since Mothers Day, Fathers Day and Graduations are almost here, I'm sure they won't go to waste!  It can be made out of card stock or metal, anything you like, just as long as you use Heartwarming Vintage/Crafty Secrets product.  I would love to see some of you join in the challenge there, here is the link. 

I used the Crafty Secrets French Labels Sticker to make my gift card holder.  The paper is  DCWV The Sweet Stack, Liquid Pearls White Opal and Blue Moon Madame Delphine's collection jewelery for the sweet little hand mirror.  I also used Ranger's Tim Holtz Distress Ink in broken china.  Thanks for looking, ~Diane

Sweet Blogger

I received this sweet award from my friend Alison at Stretch N Bubbles.  She has amazing digi images, and if you hurry on over you can still take part in her 1st ever blog hop and challenge.  She will now offer weekly challenges too.  Now I get to pass this on to 6 Sweet Bloggers I know.  Only 6!  That's hard because I know so many more.  In alphabetical order, because I love you all dearly. 

Cara -  Cara's Scrap N Stamp Art

Carole - Paper Arts

Jan - Papercraft Pleasures

Kristen - Kards and Klay
Kymberly - Free Trinkets and Treasures 
Terry - Tellen's Place
These are all amazing women you will love for their fantastic creativity and interesting blogs,  but I love them for their sweet, kind and generous hearts.   Thanks for looking, ~Diane

Cute Shoes

I made this card for Alison's Stretch N Bubbles 1st ever challenge blog hop.  There is a link in my side bar to it.  This is a sketch challenge, I had it finished and photographed and then I noticed I had left off the rhinestones!  I made this with a digi stamp from Stretch N Bubbles, I must say it is one of my favorites, very versatile.  I will also enter it in The Order of the Opus Gluei, as this has more sparkles than my last card.  This digi came with a black frame and without.  I printed it with the frame and it made it much easier to cut out the squares.  I colored the shoes with Copic Atyou Spica glitter marker pen's, I can't capture it on the camera but they are very sparkly.   I used TSC Designs Puffy 3-D Glue on the feathered tops.  It was not white enough so I added some Studio G glitter Glue, still too dull so I added Stampin UP Dazzling Diamonds glitter.   Thanks for looking, ~Diane

Thank You

I love to make cards when my heart inspires them.  Yes, you guessed it, I did make this card to send to my friend Jan at Papercraft Pleasures.  I used some of the Crafty Secrets items she sent me.  I used the lay out from Just Us Girls on the outside and I was inspired by the Accucut shadow boxes  to make this into my own  fancy shadow box.  I was also inspired by Jerri Jiminez at  A touch of Grace who has demonstrated  Parchment Craft on her site.  This is not Parchment Craft, I used vellum paper and embossed it by hand.  Card stock is Bazzill and Paper and More  Blush Pink Vellum.  Inside of card is Graphics 45, brides to babies.   I used Crafty Secrets French Labels on the front and Fond Recollections inside the card. I used Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Pendant Shapeabilities to make my cut out.  I used Ranger's Tim Holtz Distress Ink worn lipstick and over that I applied Distress Ink Tea Dye. And I embossed with Stampin Up Big Shot Texturz Plate Perfect Details. The antique lace is from my garage sale stash. 

This is the Just Us Girls Saturday Challenge sketch I used, they are a fun group and offer  a different challenge every week.  Thanks for looking, ~Diane

Amazing RAK from my friend Jan!

  My friend Jan at Papercraft Pleasures said she was sending me a "few" Crafty Secrets stickers.  This is way more than a few stickers, and not just stickers either!  She sent Stickers, Vintage Cuts, Vintage Booklets and the Homespun Cotton Scraps!  This is way beyond generous my dear friend!  I could barely get it all in the photo!  I had to fan it out so you could see all the different packs.   Jan, I am just blown away, totally speechless!   I can't believe your generosity!  Thank you so much, I really don't deserve your kindness.  I will do my best to find a way to reciprocate, but you have set the standard extremely high!   My most sincere thanks for this generous and thoughtful RAK.  ~Diane

It's our husbands, ha ha

This card won the challenge at Tellens Place along with a $10.00 Gift Certificate to spend at  Quixotic Paperie, Whoo Hoo!
 I made this card with one of the Diva images from Tellens Place.   The sentiment is from a card I saw 15 years ago when the book I'm OK You're OK was popular, and the sentiment still cracks me up.   The layout is from the Tellens Place Challenge.  I actually planned this out for a few different challenges.  The Order of Opus Gluei wants to see sparkles.  I hope you can see the glitter in the card stock and I used it for trim and my jewels are very sparkly also.  Practical Scrappers wants to help us use up the supplies we have, this week it is markers.  I used my Stampin Up markers, Copic, and Spica Atyou ( for the table glitter, ) and I almost forgot the Souffle 3D ink!  Something Completely Different uses letters of the alphabet for inspiration, this week the letter is W,  I am using it for Women.  And Stamp Something has challenged us to use the color pink.  Wow, that's a lot of challenges for me!  The Digi image is from Tellens Place.  The paper is DCWV The Sweet Stack, markers are Stampin Up,  Copic skin tone marker and Copic Spica Atyou glitter markers.  I used both the Spellbinders Petite Ovals Nestabilities and Classic Ovals Nestabilities.   Glitter, jewels and ribbon all from JoAnns.  Thanks for looking, ~Diane

Happy 60th Birthday card

I am entering this card into the Creative Card Crew Challenge Vintage / Aged and also the Allsorts Challenge which is to use NO designer paper.
My friend Peggy asked me to make a special card for her friend Anita who is celebrating her 60th Birthday on Saturday.  They both love playing the piano so she asked me to do a piano pop up card.  I thought something vintage would be fun.  I am not very tech savvy so I am proud of some new techniques I learned this weekend.  I cropped and erased the images that went with this piano in Paint, which I am just now learning.  When I printed my image I accidentally chose to print it with the black ink cartridge only, thinking that would make the piano nice and dark.  Instead, it produced a shadow image which I thought would look great when I printed the sheet music over it.  I think that's my favorite part of this card! 

I used Stampin Up Big Shot Texturz Plate Perfect Details along with Liquid Pearls on the pink card stock.  For the blue I used
Stampin Up Big Shot Texturz Plate Backgrounds #1 and
Ranger's Tim Holtz Distress Ink Tea Dye all throughout the card.  The image on the front and inside are from 864 Humorous Cuts from the 20's and 30's, selected and arranged by Carol Belanger Grafton, a book I purchased from Dover Publications. I erased the words in the image and added the Birthday greeting then framed it with Flower Soft.  I cut my shapes with Spellbinders Labels 8 Nestabilities.  I used We R Memory Keepers Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper 1/4" & 1/2" to round the corners.  This worked wonderful for getting through all those layers of card stock.  I colored my images with my lone Copic skin tone marker and Prismacolor pencils.  I added a little Studio G glitter glue to the floral dress and the piano keys.  I sprayed the piano and bench with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Wheatfields for some glisten and I also used Stampin Up Crystal Effects to give the piano that high gloss finish and some dimensionality.  I found the free sheet music to Happy Birthday at www.8notes.com and added some ribbon under the music.  I hope Peggy and Anita both enjoy this.  Thanks for looking, ~Diane

Lady in Blue

I chose this lovely lady for the Play Date Cafe Creativity Challenge #23 hosted by Sarah Anderson.  This is a beautiful choice of colors.

This image is from a wonderful site called Vintage Holiday Crafts.  There are a ton of beautiful vintage items there.  This is a gift card tin, slender enough to hold a gift card, business cards or a few credit cards.  I have more in the post below.  Thanks for looking, ~Diane

Vintage gift card tins.

Here are more of the Vintage tins.

These cute little vintage card tins were so much fun to make.  I made one out of a more modern print for my daughters birthday.  Everyone loved it, so I went back and grabbed more tins and went crazy with this collection of lovely vintage ladies.  I found them and much more at a wonderful site called Vintage Holiday Crafts.  I just re-sized them in Word to fit the tins.   They are just big enough to hold a gift card or some credit cards.  I printed them on some crack and peel Mactac that I salvaged when the in house print shop at work closed.  I love this kind of recycling.   It is somewhat yellowed with age, perfect for this application.  I found the gift card cases on sale at Meijers.  Happy Easter and thanks for looking, ~Diane

Published in Ready, Set, Create April May issue

The new April/May issue of Ready, Set, Create is here!  Go grab a copy for yourself, it's full of inspiration!

 I have a new card I can share with you that was published in last month's Ready, Set, Create.  It was a special card I made for my friend Jan at Papercraft Pleasures.    You have to buy the April/May issue to see my latest card, or wait until next month.

Thank You
from the February/March issue of Ready, Set, Create.
Supplies
Spellbinders Labels 8 Nestabilities, Spellbinders
Impressabilities Tulips, Stampin Up Certainly
Celery card stock, clear polyester sheet, Wausau white, Versa Magic Aloe Vera chalk
ink applied with a brayer to the Impressability
and then run through the Wizard. The
Stampin Up Wonderful Wings dragonfly was
stamped with Stazon White, trimmed in gold leafing
pen and colored with Pearl Ex chalks. Sentiment
Stampin Up Warmest Regards, ribbon and
buttons are from the Dollar Store.  I'll be back later today to show you what I have been working on.  Thanks for looking, ~Diane

Runway Birthday Party Card

This is a fun card for a Birthday Party with a Runway Model's theme.  This was so easy to make, I used Stampin Up card stock for the Pink and Purple.  I embossed the Pink with a Sizzix Texture Plate that has lipstick, shoes and purses.  I used my Spellbinders Deckled Mega Rectangles Nestabilities on a piece of shiny metallic card stock to give the impression of a full length mirror.  I made the hanger from bendable jewelry wire.    The fancy ribbon boa comes from stash from my friend  Terry at Tellens Place.  The party invitation was printed on my computer and I inked up a swirl to stamp over it.  The shoes were cut on my Cricut Plantin Schoolbook.  I cut the letter N, turned it upside down and cut off the upward stroke.  I then cut a little curve and added a rhinestone and voila, I have shoes.  Thanks for looking.  ~Diane

Vintage Shadowbox for Mum

These card photo's will return 30 days after publication in the April issue.  

Visit Scrapbook News and Review for more exciting cards and inspiration.

I am so excited to share this with you!  This was such a thrill to work on too.  My friend Jan at Papercraft Pleasures gave me one of her Accucut Die cuts to work with.  This Shadow Box is such a gorgeous lay out to work with.  Sorry if I am showing off with all my pictures, but I had to get you all the views, there are so many views to see!  The Paper is my favorite Graphics 45, it has such a romantic feel to it.  The photo's are from
Dover Electronic Clip Art - Victorian Fashion Accessories, this is the first time I have used any of the images.  I used the Sepia tones to print them out in Word, to give them more of a Vintage look.   The cameo charm is from Blue Moon's Madame Delphines Collection.  I used Ranger's Tim Holtz Distress Ink  in Tea Dye to age all the edges and the white satin ribbon.  I cut the letters with Cricut Plantin Schoolbook.   The garden image is from an old garden book on Victory Gardens, mixing Era's just a little.  The lace trims are the stash of hand crocheted I bought a while back, they were old so they needed no aging.  The pearls are from JoAnns.  Thank you Jan for the opportunity to work with this lovely Accucut Die Cut, and as always, thanks for looking, ~Diane 

Happy St. Patricks Day

I made this sweet 5 x 7 card for the Crafty Secrets and Heartwarming Vintage challenge at Paper Craft Planet.  I needed to use a Crafty Secrets image, this sweet St.Patrick's Day image is available for free at the Crafty Secrets blog, along with a lot of inspiration.  The challenge also called for flowers, I made these with Flower Soft on green wires.  It also calls for it to be CAS, clean and simple.  I originally made it with a large green button poised where the bouquet sits.  Then it hit me a little later in the day, there were supposed to be flowers!  So I took the button off and replaced it with this bouquet, sorry if it's not too simple.  I took a Valentine Doily and fashioned it to look similar to her bouquet.  The paper was printed at Free Vintage Flower Art Scrapbook Paper, the green was a different shade so I used some Kelly Green ink and sponged it to get this color. I used a MS punch, some dimensionals, and two ribbons from my stash.    I am also entering this in the Cupcake Craft Challenge Going Green, and for A Spoonful of Sugar, because they are looking for something recycled.  And Raise the Bar, is looking for something Green as in the color green or recycled Green.  I recycled the wrong color paper, the Valentine heart doily and the green wires have been in my stash forever!  I bought them years ago to make silk flowers on an ink pen for my daughters teachers.  And actually the paper I printed the stripes on to was on it's way to a landfill from work. It is a crack and peel paper that prints with an antique look to it, so I recycled that piece twice!  lol.  Thanks for looking, ~Diane

Who said sparkling frog legs?

This charming frog is a freebie digi image from Kards and Klay - Kahwinkedink.  I had this cute DCWV card stock with the silverware and the glitter and I thought perfect!  The challenge at The Order of Opus Gluei is for green, anything green.  And Kards and Klay  is for a pond theme.  Raise the Bar is also looking for green.  I also wanted to use some of the Meyer Imports Take and Make Glass Glitter - Greens Blend 70 grit.  I used it on the tummy of the frog and on a silk flower.  It is really chunky and lots of fun to work with!  I bought the glitter after Christmas, Meyer Imports was offering free shipping, so I thought I would give it a try, fabulous, so glad I did!  Simple card, not too many ingredients in this recipe, but here goes.  Digi image Kards and Klay - Kahwinkedink card stock DCWV NANA'S Kitchen, Meyer Imports Take and Make Glass Glitter - Greens Blend 70 grit.  Spellbinders Labels 8 Nestabilities and last but certainly not least, Copic atyou Spica glitter marker pen's.  Thanks for looking, ~Diane