Someone Special

I made this for my sister's mother-in-law for Mother's Day. My daughters call her Grandma and we love her as if she were. She has made paper dolls ever since I can remember, so I wanted to give a nod to her talent. (She also sews and crochets doll clothes without a pattern!)

Dawn cut the little figures with her Silhouette and I wrapped glitter tape around the waist. The background paper is from a cardstock paper stack that's filled with nifty mottled scenes such as this. I'm in love with those little dresses!

These Hands

My best friend Lauri's father passed away tonight. This was taken earlier today; 61 years together.

A Couple of Cards and Feathers

I liked the other graduation card so much I made another one for my niece! I also made a birthday card for my daughter's co-worker using one of the fabulous Julie Nutting doll stamps.

 

I sprayed the cardstock with gold Color Shine before adhering the sentiment. I should actually do this more often, make two or more of whatever I'm doing at time. But most of the time I don't know if it'll be a success until it's done.

This is for my daughter's co-worker. I am so tickled to discover the Julie Nutting doll stamps will fit on a greeting card after all! She is made of 3 layers, two cardstock and one of very fine golden paper. Rhinestones were added because, sparkle.

The sentiment is surrounded by tiny white stars.

And on the feather front...

I am obsessed with making these! I cut a gazillion slices with my scissors to make them look more feathery. The rainbow one is backed with the same fine golden paper as the center feather. I haven't done anything with the inkwells yet.

The rainbow one is my favorite, but the brown one looks the most real. Want one?

Pen and Quill

I made this card for a friend's graduation. As usual, it was one experiment after another, and, luckily, everything came out just right. The background was embossed and rubbed with gold Delicata ink. I love that stuff! See that feather?

I cut it out of white cardstock using a die and sprayed with some Tinsel Color Shine. Next step was to cut the edges into a gazillion thin strips to give it a more feathery-type look. I like it!

I cut the inkwell and diploma from pieces of scrap vellum saved from an old American Girl magazine cover. The inkwell was sprayed with black Color Shine and sealed with Glossy Accents. When I applied the Glossy Accents the ink smeared and made a pretty nifty finish, kind of like a real smudgy old bottle of ink. I burnished the lines on the back of it so the outline would pop out and applied a brown pop dot at the center. I scrunched up the diploma, tore the edges and inked it up with the same gold ink as the background.

Dawn cut the sentiment and graduate figure with her Silhouette for me. It gave the perfect finishing touch to this special card.

My daughters liked the feather so much I made them one for their craft stash. I'm going to make more in different colors because I'm obsessive like that, yo.

From My Duplicate Daughters

This was one of the best Mother's Day, ever! Leslie cooked a meal fit for a queen! Pictured above: Leslie, Marty, Valerie, me and Dawn. I love that my mom's plate wall is the background for this memorable photo.

I told the girls the only thing I wanted for Mother's Day was a homemade card. I'm spoiled all year long and don't need Mother's Day to let me know how special I am to my family. Besides, they're taking me to England, and I think that about covers every single holiday for the next 10 years!

I displayed the bears on my wooden Oz chest because I thought it an appropriate background. Aren't they adorable?!

My Hair

...or lack thereof. I wish my hair was as thick as it looks here, but it’s super fine and I always look bald, especially from the front. Before my trip to England I’m gonna take a bottle of dark blonde to it, chop it off and get the bangs going again.

But, honestly, I like my all-one-length grey hair and would rather be able to pull it back like this and not have to fuss with it. And that clip, I understand why my daughters don't like it, it's older than dirt. I wish I could find an updated version that will stay in my hair.

Happy Mother's Day!

Whether you're a mom of kids or the four-legged kind, I hope you take the time to do something special for yourself!

P.S. This is the inside of a card I made.

Giant Buttons? Yes, Please!

I had such fun dressing up these giant wooden buttons I found at Michael's for only 29-cents a piece! After fighting with the equally giant labels on the back of them (it took like half-an-hour to get all the sticky off), I finally managed to create a nice clean surface.

I challenged myself to make each one different, so I had to dig out my thinking cap. The first one was a no-brainer. I used some sparkly candy-print card stock on both sides.

The first thing I did was ink the wood with Adirondack's Watermelon, especially around the edge, so it would match the paper.

The card stock was adhered using Glossy Accents on both the wood and paper for a more secure hold.

I really like how this turned out. I mean, who doesn't like sparkly candy?!

The second one started out with different inks. I just dabbed here and there, then added some Color Shine to it. I thought it would make a nice background for the rhinestones I wanted to cover it with.

But it was just okay, and I didn't like it, so I decided to go another route. I love working with embossing powders and that's what I used here.The back is black metallic and feels like rubber, it's pretty nifty.

This button is covered in Washi tape and was a lot of fun to do. It was a very simple process and I could probably make dozens more, I liked it so much.

I simply laid the tape down, overlapping just a tad bit. When it was in place I turned it over and trimmed the edges then did the other side, this time in blue. When that was in place I cut out the center circles. I added a hanger to it by placing it on the blue side and putting another piece of tape over it. I gave both sides a couple of coats of Mod Podge Hard Coat and I'm very pleased with the result. You can use regular Mod Podge, but I don't like the tackiness it leaves behind. The hard coat formula is my favorite because it leaves a smooth, non-sticky finish.

 All tied up with a pretty pink bow made of vintage seam binding.

For the last button I used fabric cut from an upholstery book. I laid down a layer of Mod Podge Hard Coat, placed the fabric on top of the wooden button, then covered the fabric in another layer of Mod Podge. I used my embossing gun to help the drying process because I was anxious to finish it. It dried to a nice hard surface, better than I thought possible.

I used my Cropadile to punch the holes and finished enlarging them with my craft knife.

A piece of natural twine was used for the hanger which I tucked behind the fabric on the back. The bow was made using vintage seam binding. I love the feel of this old stuff, so silky, and it makes such pretty bows.

The back bow is just as cute as the front. It looks like a tiny bow tie a man would wear.

I had fun challenging myself to try different things with these. My daughter Valerie said I could go crash her stash of wood things, so I'm excited to see what else I can cover.

A Whole New Meaning to "In The Hood"

This was taken by my best friend Lauri's guy while he was scouting job sites. It's so cool I just had to share it. Good job, Leon!