Painting!

I have painters in and out of the house lately and things are scattered. I miss my stamps and dies and paper! Be back in a couple of days!

Day 4-Three Ways

Day 4

This was an exciting day in the Clean and Simple class.  I have a lot of stamps and finding different ways to use them - or even just thinking of different ways to use them makes me feel justified in purchasing them!  I wanted to use a background stamp like our teachers used, but didn't want to completely copy them by using the text style background.  So, I pulled out a set that I love, but hardly use - Gingham.

One example used the stamp as a background, and it was heat embossed.  I tried that technique here:

I stamped the background on white cardstock and heat embossed it with clear embossing.  Then, I used a blending tool to go over the embossing and give the background its color. 

The second card uses the same gingham stamp, but I used it to give pattern to the die-cut flower. 

The grass die and sun die are two dies from My Favorite Things.  I've had them for awhile, but this is the first I have used them.  I ran the center of the sun through the Xyron and pressed it in prisma glitter to give it some sparkle. 

My third card uses the same gingham stamp, but I used it as a background stamp on a smaller die-cut, similar to the way Julie used the stamp on the back of embossed flowers.

I stamped the gingham on Kraft in Fresh Snow ink and let it dry.  I heat embossed the frame with white embossing powder and added the stems, flower and sentiment.  I used the same white ink to color in the flower. I doubled up some green and rustic twine to tie and bow, and  I was lucky to find that heart shaped button in my stash that it would be the perfect finish for this card!

Jennifer has a challenging lesson for Day 5.  I'm thinking about skipping class, but I may end up giving it a shot!  We'll see.

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

Day 3-Tone on Tone

Day 3
I know.  I'm a bit behind, aren't I?  The class wrapped up yesterday and I'm just now posting for Day 3.  Jennifer hosted this challenge and had a great video.  She talked about the ease of using die cuts to create a tone on tone project.  Here's my contribution to this challenge:

Think Big Favorites, Leafy Vine border (Papertrey Ink)

As I've said before, I like to add as much detail as I can to the Clean and Simple design while still staying true to that philosophy.  I added the pearls to the smaller leaves to give a little sparkle to the card. 

Here's a detail shot:

My niece is here visiting this weekend.  She is quite the artist and crafter.  She sat next to me looking at the class PDFs and making notes in her sketchbook as I was making this.  I think just a little more nudging and I might have a partner in crime!

I'll be working on Day 4 now!  Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

Day 2 - One Layer

Day 2

Today I'm bringing you cards inspired by last week's segment in the Clean and Simple card class.  Julie talked to us about visual triangles and creating layers without actually adding layers to the card.  After her video, I added a new tool to my shopping list and purchased the Stamp-a-ma-jig.  I had seen this mentioned on several blogs before, but frankly, it scared me.  It seemed to difficult to use and had too many steps to follow.  After seeing the ease that Julie used the tool, I knew I needed it.

So, I got it.  And used it on this card:

Everything's Owlright (Wilson Designs)

I masked the Polaroid stamp and owl, then used a blending tool to create the sky.  Then I stamped the Polaroid image and owl.  After coloring him in, I added the sentiment.

While stepping back to look at the card, a string fell on it.  When I brushed it away, I discovered that it was part of some ink.  So the bottom of the card was ruined.  I trimmed it off and added the circle border from the set on the inside of the card.  Every mess up is a chance for embellishment, right?

The second card for this day uses the visual triangle that Julie talked about.  Here it is:

After stamping the butterflies I added little dots of my Sakura Stardust pen to the circles on the butterfly.  I wanted to give it just a little extra detail.

I'm loving the class so far, even though I'm behind.  There are a lot of wonderful teachers and great techniques being highlighted.  Tomorrow I'll be back with Day 3 - where Jennifer taught us about nifty ways to use die cuts.

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

Clean and Simple Class

Day 1

Yes, I'm a week behind, and I'm going to be OK with that.  There were exactly 1,000,001 things I needed to do before attempting to sit down and create something for last Monday's beginning of the class in which I enrolled. 

I love sketches, so this was the perfect way to kick off the class.  Kristina gave us three to work with, and I challenged myself even more to make three cards using the same type of paper.

Here's what I came up with:

I like the Clean and Simple look and philosophy, but sometimes I like to take it one more step and add a little something extra to the card - IF I have time.  So on the first card, I added some stitching.  On the second, I added a layered button, and on the third card I heat embossed the sentiment and then ran the panel through with an impression plate. 

Here are a few close ups:

So, now I'll move on to Day 2 and 3 and see what I can come up with!

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

Tooth Fairy

My son has been eagerly anticipating his first loose tooth.  It seems that most everyone in his class has lost a tooth - some even 9 teeth.  We have checked every night for almost a year and not one little wiggle - until last week.  He felt a tooth wiggle; I felt a tooth wiggle.  We both thought we were wiggling the same tooth until a few nights ago when we realized he had TWO loose teeth! 

This morning at 5:45 a.m. he entered my room, turned on the light which blinded me and exclaimed, "Mommy, you HAVE to see this!"  It was his little tooth.  He wiggled it until it fell out.

So, I felt the need to make him something for this tooth.  Thanks to a good friend, she mentioned that Martha had an easy project for just this occasion.  You can see Martha's project here.

Here's mine:

I copied Martha's design but used some of my husband's jeans as the pillow.  This makes it all the more special for my little boy.  The tooth is cut from Vintage Cream felt from PTI.  It's a little pocket to slip the tooth in and allows room for the Tooth Fairy to slip in some money.

What's the going rate for a tooth these days?

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place today.  Hopefully, we'll be back to our regularly scheduled program of cards and layouts tomorrow. 

Coordinating bookmark

Here is the second project I submitted to Paper Crafts.  It's a coordinating bookmark for the card I posted yesterday.  I used the same Vintage Notepad stamp from Market Street Stamps, but this time I used Lawn Fawn's Smitty's Alphabet to build the sentiment.  The apple was die cut from cardstock instead of felt this time.  This bookmark measures 7-3/4 x 2-5/8inches.  I used the same ruler ribbon.  I just love it!

I'm short on words today!  I'll be back tomorrow to share my last school project I submitted. Then, I'm hoping to share some cards from the current online class that I'm taking - Clean and Simple cards.

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

Back to School?

Yes, I know.  It's January, not August.  And believe me, no one is happier about that than I am.  I will take this 45 degree weather over the 114 degrees we had last summer.  It's almost glorious outside.  My students are still wearing shorts and flip flops to school and that makes me giddy.  I'd have the flip flops on too if it weren't for a horrible need for a pedicure. Maybe next week.

Paper Crafts recently had a call for their summer issue, and Back to School items were requested.  I made a few things to submit, and I get to show them to you over the next couple of days. 

Here's one card:

Vintage Notepad background(Market Street Stamps), Signature Greetings (PTI)

I used a great background stamp on this one - the Vintage Notepad from Market Street Stamps.  It's one large stamp that fits on my stamp press. I love it and have used it a lot.  The sentiment is from PTI - meant for a birthday.  I try to dig through some birthday stamps to see how I can use them in a different way.  This one is perfect for teachers during Back to School time.

I'll be back tomorrow with the coordinating bookmark I made for this card. 

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

Top Favorites of 2011

I'm joining in the fun and reviewing some of my favorite projects from last year.  "Last year" - can't believe we are already saying that.  Since this is going to be a heavy-photo blogpost, I'll keep the words to a minimum.  I decided to select favorite cards from each month this time. 

My Crafty Resolutions:
-As I was looking over my favorites, I noticed that many of them were from PTI's Make It Monday series, where I learned new techniques to try.  My goal is to keep up with those this year (crossing my fingers that PTI continues these weekly challenges!)

-I also noticed that I used bright colors and patterned paper on several of my favorites.  I need to remember that as I sit down to create. 

-I did get published this year!  You can see that card at the bottom of this post.  Hoping I can get published more in this new year. 

-I have several layouts that I submitted to some sketch challenges.  I loved my layouts and need to get back into my scrapbooking.  You can see many of my pages if you click HERE. 


Here we go:

You can click on the link for each month to see the original blog posts. 


January:

February:

March:

April:

May:

  

June: 

July:

August:

 

September:

October:

November:

December:

Published Card:

You can find this card on page 62 of the January/February issue of Paper Crafts magazine!  On sale now!  Run - don't walk - to your nearest newsstand!  Or you can just click HERE and order it and you won't have to run anywhere!  There are some amazing projects in there for Valentine's Day!

I appreciate your sticking with me through this long post - and this long year.  I have made and cherish many online visitors to my site and truly appreciate the good thoughts you all send.

I especially want to thank my blog group, The Paper Dolls.  They know why.  ;)

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!  See you soon!