Thursday, May 31, 2012

Sassy Cheryl's Show Me Thursday,,,,,

Has life ever gotten the best of you?? Yeah, been there, done that,,,,,,,,,,over it LOL. I really love the weekly "Show Me Thursday" that Sassy Cheryl has every week,,,,,,

and I haven't taken a bleeping five minutes to snap a pic and load it up,,,,,,,in MONTHS.

talk about silly,,,,,,,,,,when there are free digis up for grabs, *I* have not taken FIVE MINUTES????

someone take my temperature!

Anywho,,,,,,,,,,,,this week, I promised myself I'd play along,,Cheryl wants to see what's on your plate,,,,,,,what you're up to, or what you're working on,,,,,,

and today, I've been working on learning to color with colored pencils and blending with OMS and baby oil. Totally fun,,,,,,,,,,and a totally different look than copics,,,,,,,,,,,,,but I really like it! NOT that I plan to give up my copics,,,,,,,,,,,,,buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut this is a great look I think I will enjoy sometimes :)

So,,,,,,,,,,,,,please keep in mind these are my FIRST attempts LOL,,,,,,,,,,

so without further ado,,,,,,,,,,here's what's on my desk today.



Have a great evening, and I hope to be back tomorrow with another card, although I am hard at work getting ready for my mom to come, arranging our stuff to go on vacation to the coast, camping gear for the camper, etc.

Have a great weekend if I don't see you before Monday! And thanks for looking!

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Butterfly Bow Tutorial!

Good Afternoon,,,,,,,,,

This is my SECOND bow tutorial,,,,,,,,,scroll down to start from the beginning with a basic bow. It's really necessary to understand the basic bow on the bow maker, before attempting this more complicated (but still easy) bow! There are two ways to do this bow, and I am going to show you the easiest way today. I'm not fond of the other way, I wind up with twisted loops. I don't like twisted loops LOL.


For this bow, you'll need a longer ribbon,,,,,,,,the length depends on how many loops on each side you wish to make. Generally, I make 3 or 4, which I think makes a nice fluffy bow. I recommend about 2 feet of ribbon. You'll want skinnier ribbon too,,,,,,I like 1/2 inch ribbon,,,,,,,but the skinner the ribbon, the more loops you can make!





place the ribbon across the bow maker, tails to the back,,,,,,,,,with more on the right than the left (If you are right handed).




taking the right tail (the one that is longer) wrap it around both dowels as many times as you want loops,,,,,,make sure you have the same number on both sides! And make sure both tails wind up in the back again.


Right tail over left tail again,,,,,,,,,,boy this looks familiar!





Again, the bottom tail goes up, the top tail goes down so they are twisted in the back.




Bring the top over the front of the bow again (for really skinny ribbon like this, I generally don't fold it,,,,,but you can, if you want to fuss with it!) and tuck it underneath the bow and under the other tail in the back.


Top over bottom again,,,,,,,,,,,see that loop? take the top tail and tuck it under and out the loop to make a knot.




Pull tight! All your loops will squash together. That's ok! Pull the bow off the pegs and fluff it,,,,,,,,separate the loops, shake it, etc.





You're finished!! (if you look closely, I GOOFED! I have 4 loops on one side and 5 on the other LOL! Life happens!)

I really hope you liked the bows!!!! You can make them, they are SIMPLEEEEEEEEEEEE and fun!

I will try to get a few more tuts for bows up in the next few weeks, but I have a busy June,,,,,,,most of them fan off these bows, so practice these and you can probably figure out some new ones on your own! Be sure to share! I'm always looking for fun new bows!

Basic Bow Making tutorial!

Good Afternoon,,,,,,

I get a ton of compliments on my bows, and  a ton of people saying they have "bow envy". Why, I do not know, bows are SIMPLE!

So, today, I am giving out my bow making "secrets", although, really, it's no secret :) Bows are very easy on a peg bow system.

I am not the inventor of the peg bow system,,,,,,,,,,and there are plenty of them on the market. Not everyone does theirs exactly the way I do, either,,,,,,,,,whatever works for you. I'm simply going to show you what works for me.

Today, we'll make two bows,,,,,,,,,what I consider my "basic" bow and a simple "butterfly bow.

This post is my basic bow tutorial, and I recommend getting this one down pat before attempting anything more complicated.

So, you'll need a peg bow maker. This is really easy to make. You don't need anything fancy or expensive, although they do sell for anywhere from 10.00 to 40.00.

Although you CAN buy them, they are simple to make,,,,,,,,

you'll need a piece of wood for the base,,,,,,,two dowels,,,,,,,,and holes drilled across the base. I recommend about every inch for up to six inches,,,,,,,,,you probably won't need larger than six inches for any card or scrap book page,,,,,,,

but if you make wreaths or whatever, you CAN make a longer bow maker and make bows as large as you wish.

I also recommend the LAST hole be 1/2 inch from the one before it,,,,,,,,this way, you can make any size bow from 1-6.5 inches and everything, whole and half inches in between. You change the size of the bow by simply moving the dowels closer or farther apart.

If you're like me, and you don't care if your bows are EXACTLY 3 inches, and you eyeball everything,,,,,,

I bought this at Michael's Craft Store,,,,,,,,,I have no idea what it's original intention was,,,,,,,but it was with the wooden letters,,,,,,,,,,,,it has TWO rows of holes, which is NOT necessary,,,,,,,,,,this is just the way it came, and I use only one row of holes. So if you're making one, one row of holes is all you need to drill. However for 59 cents (and it came with several dowels),,,,,,,I couldn't go wrong, So if your husband isn't thrilled about making you one, and you don't want to spend your month's scrappy allowance on a bow maker,,,,,,,,,run to Michaels and see if you can't snag this baby for next to nothing.


On to bow making!





for ease of understanding, directions are UNDER the pictures,,,,,,,
you'll need a bow maker
a length of ribbon (about a foot for this bow)
scissors
you.



place the length of ribbon across the dowels. I have them set at about 4 inches apart here, and am using 1.5 inch ribbon for this bow (my favorite size). The ends of the ribbon should be in the back,,,,,,,and you should be sitting at the front. This is the front of the bow, where you can control how the bow will look.





cross the right tail over the left tail (you can do this with two hands,,,,,I was trying to one hand it because I was taking photos with the other LOL). Now you have a top tail and a bottom tail.




Pull the top tail down and the bottom tail up so they are "twisted" in the back.




Now the top tail goes down over the TOP of the bow. I like to fold it i n half at this point, so my bow center bridge  is nice and neat. Tuck that underneath the bow so that it is under the other tail now. You can see your bow forming now!





Now that you have both tails happy together again in the back of the bow, cross the top over the bottom. See that loop there? I've stuck my fingers in there to show you the loop. tuck the top one under the loop and bring it up through the loop to make a knot.




Grasping each of the tails now, PULL TIGHT (but not toooooooooo tight!)

you now have a bow on the bow maker. Slide the bow off the top, or if you'd rather, pull the dowels out.

You can also cut the ends here, or wait til it is off the bow maker, whichever you like.





Finished,,,,,,,,Easy peasy. It takes a few tries, but it is WELL WORTH it! You can tighten the bow by pulling on the tails, and shape it a bit by pulling on the ears. This bow works well for satin ribbon too!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial,,,,,,,,,,,,really, they are TOO EASY!

Next up,,,,,,,,,a butterfly bow!










Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Party Time Tuesday!!!!!!

It's time to PARTAYYYYYYY!! One of my FAVORITE of all weeks at Party Time Tuesdays, the last week of the month is,,,,,,

ANYTHING GOES!!!!!!!

This week we have as our fabulous sponsors,,,,,,,,Bunny Zoe Crafts, Fantastic Ribbon, and Crafty Sentiments who gave us images to work with this week!!!!!

I had this DARLING image,,,,,and since it's Anything Goes,,,,,,I decided to make a 4th of July card! Yes, I know it's early, LOL, but June is LOADED with activities, so I wanted to get these done ASAP!

And here is my card!






I used copics to color this darling girl,,,,,and also to color the fire works bling I put on the card,,,,,paper is Websters, and I matted my darling girl on lacy ovals,,,,,,,,,,the number 4 was cut with my cricut!

Here's a closer image of this darling stamp!





A red annd silver bow, and she's finished!

I hope you enjoyed the card,,,,,,,now run right over to PTT and link up your Anything Goes Card! Please know that although we LOVE LOVE LOVE to see all your cards, there are simply too many entries to comment on each one,,so rather than leave some out, we simply don't comment. We do hope you understand,,,,,,and WE LOVE THEM ALL!

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Sassy Cheryl Challenge and a fun card!

Good Afternoon!! I think it's been MONTHS since I played along with the Sassy girls! But TODAY that ends!!!!!!Ssassy Cheryl's is one of my FAVORITE challenges, because the challenges are fun, easy, and the images are adorable!!!!!  I made a card for the Sassy Cheryl's challenge "Favorite color combo"!

Doing sassy little dance!

Deciding WHICH of my fav color combos to do, however,,,,,,,wasn't so easy LOL. I have so many favs!!!!!! But since summer is coming, I decided my favorite THIS week was some summery colors!

My color combo,,,,,,,,peach, pink, orange and just a touch of green,,,,,,,

and so here's my color combo card using Sassy Cheryl's darling image (that just CALLED to me "buy me buy me buy me" when I went to her site!) Sam and Avery at Odds.






Please pardon the lousy cropping LOL,,,,,my battery was dying and I took the picture QUICKLY, not leaving enough background room for good quality cropping (darnitall),,,,,,,,but I want to get this in today, because I have a busy weekend!

Here's a close up of this darling image!





I love love LOVE this image!!!!!! so cute!!!!! I computer printed the sentiment (All differences aside...I love you.) and layered the image over scraps of my favorite papers,,,,,,,,some K and company sparkly rose paper, some DCWV striped paper,,,,,,,and Webster's peach and white polka dots. A pink ruffled trim on the bottom,,,,,,,and a bright orange ribbon, and she's done!

Make sure you run over to Sassy Cheryl's shop, get yourself an image, and then run over to the Sassy Cheryl's challenge blog  and upload your card!!!! You get two entries to the prize if you use a Sassy Cheryl's image!



My next card (YES! ANOTHER!) I made for a dear friend who is laid up sick right now,,,,,

I used this gorgeous image from Sugar Nellie's line of "Simply Adorables" digi stamps,,,,,you can get them here! How darling is this?????????


I tried something a bit different here,,,,,,,I colored the image with copics and then layed some Webster's velum paper OVER the image,,,,,,

you can see a better close up here,,,,,, I'm not sure if I like it or not LOL,,,,,,,oh well, it's different!






some green velvet ribbon trim, a brown bow and some white lace a long the bottom, and she's finished. Easy peasy! This image is just GORGEOUS, and so easy to color!!!!! So much fun!

Thank you for looking, and I hope you enjoyed the cards!

I have more Sassy Cheryl's cards for graduations I am working on,,,,,,,,and a couple more Sugar Nellie cards as well! I hope to have those up later in the week.

I hope you all have a lovely safe holiday!

Sugar Creek Hollow!!!

Good Morning! It's Saturday again, and time for another fabulous Sugar Creek Hollow challenge!

This week, we want to see your vintage fashion cards and projects!!!!! Find a free image, use a stamp or a digi stamp, but whatever you do, MAKE IT VINTAGE and make it fashion!!!!

For our fantastic sponsor this week, we have the AMAZING,,,,,,,,,,digi doodle shop!






I was given this GORGEOUS image of this elegant lady!




As you can see, I colored this image with copics and cut it out with Spellbinders Romantic Rectangles,,,,,The paper is Prima, and I added a prima die cut (cut from the same prima paper), some prima flowers, a fluffy bow made from gorgeous netting,,,,,,,and a fluffy white feather!

Here's a close up of this gorgeous image!



Run right over to the Sugar Creek Hollow site and see what the other DT members have for inspiration! And while you're at it, upload your vintage fashion themed card or project!

Thanks for looking, and I hope you enjoyed the card!

Friday, May 25, 2012

Well, Hello There,,,,,,

I'm Holly,,,,,,,it's nice to meet your aquaintance LOL. I have been SO BUSY the past several weeks, camping, planning camping, getting ready for my mom to come, going to Disney World and working on DT work, I have hardly had  A MINUTE to make a card to post here that ISN'T a DT card!

Well, today is the day! LOL. Actually, I have started SEVERAL cards that I intend to finish by tomorrow,,,,,,,some new Sugar Nellie stamps that are Oooooo la la,,,,,

and some FANTASTIC Sassy Cheryl's digi stamps,,,,,,,,I may actually DO the Sassy Cheryl's challenge this week! Yep, FAINT!

But today, I have a shabby chic card that has been in my head for WEEKS,,,,,,,but it's my new Prima Meadow Lark paper that actually got it ONTO a card base :)

so without further ado,,,,,,,,,,,,Here's my card!





I just LOVE this image,,,,,,,,,,I think I got it at Free Vintage Digi Stamps, button on my side bar. I cut it out with squares large and layered it over the Meadow lark paper and a paper doily,,,,,,,I created a banner out of coordinating paper and strung it on a length of string pearls,,,,some pearls, a length of striped ribbon, a sheer bow and a handmade flower (poinsettia die) and she's done!

Here's a close up of the flower,,,,,,,,,,,this flower was super easy,,,,,,,several layers of poinsettias some inking of the edges, and a bit of shaping, and it's finished,,,,,,,


And a final close up of the easy peasy banner I created,,,,,,,,,,,





So easy, yet so fresh and pretty! My mother-in-law should love it!

Thanks for looking, and I hope you enjoyed the card! Your comments mean the world to me!

Tomorrow is my Sugar Creek Hollow post, and I also hope to have some more cards up using some new digi stamps from Sugar Nellie and Sassy Cheryl!

Have a fantastic holiday weekend,,,,,,,,,,,I wish you good weather and better times with friends and family!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Party Time Tuesdays!!!!

Good Morning! It's Tuesday, and time to party with the Party Planners! We have a fun challenge for you over at Party Time Tuesdays this week!

VINTAGE OR SHABBY CHIC!!!!! Squeeeeeeeeeeeeel! I love vintage!

Our wonderful sponsors this week are The Paper Shelter, The Stamping Boutique and Fantastic ribbon!

Thanks so much to our generous sponsors! They do so much for us over at Party Time Tuesdays!

I was given this DARLING image by the Paper Shelter to work with,,,,,,he reminded me so much of a vintage farmer, that I had to dig through my vintage farm images to see what I had!

And here's my card!





Isn't he the cutest???? I colored hm in copics using blues and grays to imitate denim, cut him out with spellbinders Long Rectangles and layered him over vintage freebies found on the web. A bright red bow to pull out the reds on the images, a vintage ticket, and he's done! Easy as pie, and such a cute card! I used Graphic 45 papers to make this simple, yet darling card!

Here's a close up of this darling image!




I hope you run right over to Party Time Tuesdays and upload your vintage or shabby chic card and join the fun with the Party Planners!

Thanks for looking, and I hope you liked the card!

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Sugar Creek Hollow Saturday!!!!!

I am really excited today!!!!!!! We have a fantastic challenge for you over at Sugar Creek Hollow! Something about any lover of vintage or shabby chic LOVVVVVVVES!

PEARLS AND SWIRLS!!!!!! We want to see pearls and flourishes on your vintage, shabby chic or primitive card!!!!! Other than that,,,,,,,the sky is the limit!

We also have a fantastic guest designer joining us at SCH this week, so be sure to come on over and welcome her,,,,,,,,,and then run right over to her blog to see her gorgeous work!

Welcome to Amelia Breytenbach! Amelia, it's so nice to have you with us this week!



And here's my card!






I am absolutely IN LOVE with this paper! It's Prima Meadow Lark,,,,,,,,and when I first got it, I was a bit disappointed,,,,,,,,but once I started layering with this gorgeous vintage rose image,,,,,,,OH MY, the paper jumps right off the card! So pretty!

I got this lovely image at a new (for me) vintage freebies site,,,,,,,,,,and I think I spent 4 hours yesterday going through every page she had to find some incredibly gorgeous images! So make sure you stop by and see what she has! The blog is called Bumble Button!

Here's the image, close up,,,,,,,





This is a relatively simple card, because I really wanted this gorgeous image and the paper to shine,,,,

I cut the image out with Spellbinders Ovals Large, inked the edges and centered it over layered Meadow Lark paper,,,,,,it's really too stunning. some ruffled ribbon, yellow sheer ribbon, Prima "Say it in pearls and crystals"  flourish and some extra pearls, and she's finished!

So easy, yet SO elegant!

I hope you loved the card, and thanks so much for looking! Your comments mean the world to me!

I hope you enjoy this week's amazing challenge at Sugar Creek Hollow, and we look forward to seeing your entry!

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

PARTY TIME TUESDAY!!!!!

Good Morning,,,,,,,it's Tuesday and time for another fabulous PTT  challenge this week!!!!!!






PURPLES!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our fabulous sponsors this week are Kenny K, DTs ARts, and Crafty Ribbon!!!!!

Thanks to our wonderful sponsors for their generosity!!!! I was given this DTs ARts image to use,,,,,,,I thought the fairy was so sweet, that I had to make a card for a special little girl who loves fairies and birds!

so here's my card!






And to finish it off, here's the inside! I created the little rhyme myself, and printed it out on the computer, special for the recipient!

I colored the image with copics in various shades of purple, added a bow and some twine, and some foliage from Spellbinders Foliage dies,,,,,,,all from various purple shades of K and Co paper scraps.





I hope you liked the card, thanks for looking, and we hope you come join us at PTT this week for our color challenge!!!!!!!


Saturday, May 12, 2012

Sugar Creek Hollow!!!!

Good Morning! It's Saturday and over at Sugar Creek Hollow, we have a fun fun FUN challenge for you this week!

We want to see your TAGS!  They should be vintage, shabby chic, or Primative in style,,,,,,and they can be a tag alone,,,or a tag on a card, whichever is your preference!

A Day for Daisies is our Fab sponsor this week!!!!





They were so generous to allow each of us to pick an image,,,,,,,,and when I saw this image, I fell in love and knew IMMEDIATELY what I would do!




I wanted the vintage story book look for my card,,,,,,,,so I colored the image in copics, cut it out, and then distressed and inked the edges.  I then embossed with clear ink and clear embossing powder three times, and then folded and cracked the embossing powder.

Here's a close up of that!




I cut my card base from Grand Labels 23, and covered it with DCWV Once Upon a Time paper. I used spellbinders nested crowns, nested hearts, and Banner Basics 1 for the banner at the top. I edged the card base and the image with gold embossing powder. It ABSOLUTELY SPARKLES.

For my little tag, I computer printed a sentiment (not mine, I don't know who thought it up, but I've seen it before), inked it and distressed it, and then rolled the top and bottom to imitate a royal scroll, and then hung it by a gold cord on a gold metal button.

Here's a close up of my tag.





I added a key cut from spellbinders Heritage dies, a few gems, some prima flowers and she's finished!

I hope you enjoyed the card, and thanks for looking! Run right over to Sugar Creek Hollow and upload your card or tag!!!!

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

PARTY TIME TUESDAYS # 67!

GOOD MORNING!!!!!!!! It's Tuesday and we have a lovely challenge for you all this week at Party Time Tuesdays!

We want to see your Mother's Day Cards! If you haven't made yours yet, you'd best get cracking,,,,,it's coming up fast!

We are being sponsored this week by the Fab Elisabeth Bell,,,,,,her images are SO CUTE! And for 4 of our 5 challenges this week, it's MORE FROM

Fantastic Ribbon! So thank you so much to both our lovely sponsors!

I had this adorable image from Elisabeth Bell, and here is my card!





I colored the image with copcs, and then cut it out with spellbinders Labels 18, using the die as a stencil to add just a bit of shadowing around the image. I matted that onto Picot Edge circles and again onto Lacy Squares.

Papers are K and co and Echo park scraps,,,,,,,I tied a double butterfly bow of orange, topped it with a scrap of teal netting and a clear button onto which I glued some Echo Park paper,,,,,

My sentiment is Just Rite and I used my Happy Everything tag kit to cut it o ut!

I hope you enjoyed,,,,,,,,thanks for looking,,,,,,,and I wish you a lovely Mother's Day!!!!! Run right over to Party Time Tuesdays and upload your Mother's Day card!

Monday, May 7, 2012

Donna Salazar Giant Give Away!!!!!!





WOW, look at all those goodies!!!! you have to have Face Book to sign up for the drawing,,,,,,,,

but here's the link to Donna's blog for the deets on how to win this amazing prize!


GOOD LUCK!!


Saturday, May 5, 2012

Sugar Creek Hollow!!!!!!!!!

Good Morning!!!!!!!! It's Saturday and time for a new Sugar Creek Hollow challenge!!!!!

And this week, our challenge is,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,


Black and White!!!!!

We want to see your black and white vintage, shabby chic and Primitive style cards in ONLY black and white. The image may be colored, but otherwise,,,,,,,,,we want ONLY black and white!!!

Here's my card!





I got this lovely image FREE from Free Vintage Digi Stamps and couldn't resist it! Pamela has the NICEST digi stamps, and they are ALL FREE! Pop on over there and see what you can find!

I colored this stunning image with the barest of copic color hints,,,,,I used R20 for the fan, lace and feathers, BG10 for the back ground and just a touch of YG 63 for the dress and hat, and E00 for skin tones.

My card base was cut from Romantic Rectangles,,,,,,,and I also used Romantic Rectangles for several of the card elements,,,,,,,I embossed the smallest with my Tim Holtz post card embossing folder and then stamped it with a little post mark stamp that I bought at Joann's. The patterned paper is more MME Lost and Found scraps!

A few pearls, and she's finished,,,,,,,,,,easy peasy and tons of fun! She measures about 5 inches X 3.25 inches, and is perfect for a little note card!

We have some more exciting news over at Sugar Creek Hollow this week!!!! Today, we are welcoming Liz and Yvonne to our Design Team!!!!! We are so excited to have them!! Congratulations, Ladies! I can't wait to see what beautiful things you create!

I hope you enjoyed the card, and thanks for looking! Now run right over to SCH and upload your black and white card! You might win a wonderful prize from Sugar Creek Hollow!

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

PARTY TIME TUESDAYS!!!!! #66!

Good Morning! It's Tuesday!!!!!!!! And it's time to PAR-TAY!!!!!!!

The theme this week at PTT is TWO OR MORE RIBBONS! and who doesn't like ribbon?????? Seriously, there's something wrong if you don't like ribbon LOL!

So come on over to PTT and upload your 2 or more ribbon card, and you might win a prize!!!!

This week's fab sponsors are Digi Stamp Characters, Sassy Studio Designs, Stitchy Bear and






Fantastic Ribbons will be our month long sponsor this month, and will be handing out some AMAZING prizes! So come on over!!!!!

I was assigned this adorable image by Stitchy Bear! And here's my card!

I colored the image with copics and cut it out with Ovals Large,,,,,I matted that on Moroccan Motifs and then again on Picot Edge Circles. the paper lace is an amazing die made for HeartFelt Creations by Spellbinders called Decorative Lace Border, and it's totally YUMMY. Love it~!

I made a double bow with dark blue ribbon and a single bow with lighter blue, tails up with one color and tails down with another,,,,,,,,,It's a large, lucious, yummy bow! The paper is a ltitle 6x6 pack I picked up in the 1.50 bin at Michaels,,,,,,,,totally pretty!

Here's a closeer look at this adorable Stitchy Bear Stamp!

I hope you enjoyed the card, and thanks for stopping by!!!!!! Run on over to Party Time Tuesdays, and while you're there, say congrats to our new Design Team members and see what all the DT has for inspiration!