2012 February » Rainy Day Creations

SSIC127 - Chocolates to Flowers

Feb 232012

Seattle Chocolates.. Oh the truffles! My hubby gave me a box of them for Valentines. The box came all tied up with a big wide organdy ribbon. And as much as I LOVE chocolate, {{ribbon}} is right up there on the list as well. After the chocolates were gone, the ribbon found it’s way to my craft table. Today it became a flower!

The challenge over at Stampin’ Sisters in Christ this week is to use a flower(s) on your project. I played along with my new little creation. (Now after reading the challenge more carefully, it says that the image must either be or have a flower in it. Well, technically the flourish stamped on my designer paper does have a couple of silhouetted flowers. So I’m hoping my card still qualifies.)

To make the flower, Jim Holtz Alterations “Tattered Florals” Die was used. I cut six flowers out from the ribbon. (Sometimes there are little threads that can be clipped with scissors as in the picture below.)

Using a heat gun, the cutout flowers were “melted.” In the picture below I am holding the flower with my fingers. However, I often will use a pair of tweezers to avoid any, “Ouch. That’s hot!” moments.

It doesn’t take much to really get them to crinkle. Here are all six flowers melted to various amounts.

To add a little more fun to the flower, I pulled several threads on the ribbon leaving them attached on one side.

Clipping off this end, I then heated these threads just enough to slightly alter them.

Taking a brad, I pushed through the center of each flower starting with the flowers which were crinkled the most. When all the flowers were secured together, the threads were attached at the back with a couple of glue dots. Voila!

This was so fun, and I still have a lot more ribbon to play with in the future!

Happy Crafting!

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Stamps: PTI Birthday Bash Sentiments; SU Baroque Motifs

Papers: PTI Vintage Cream and True Black; Basic Grey “Little Black Dress” DP

Inks: Archival Brilliance “Graphite Black”

Accessories: Organdy Ribbon; Jim Holtz Alterations “Tattered Florals” Die; EK Success Plaid Border Punch; Decorative Brass Brad

4 Year Blogiversary Winners!

Feb 202012

And the winners are…

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First:

#65 Tanya H
“Happy Blogoversary! Very cute stamp sets to give away! I LOVE what you did with the Sale-A-Bration set!! “

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Second:

#9 Gabriela Divine
“Four years blogging already? Congratulations! But really, your success comes as no surprise when we consider the quality and uniqueness of your work. Superb!”

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Third:

#56 karen q
“Congrats on 4 years. It takes a lot of dedication to blog that long. I love how you showed sample cards of the sets you are giving away, so thoughtful. Great stamps and cards. I have to say that the Everybunny set is my favorite, such a cute chick.”

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Fourth:

#3 LisaE
“Congratulations on your 4th anniversary! I love visiting your blog and seeing your wonderful cards including today’s charming cards. Love that one with the turtle, so clever.”

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Congrats, ladies! I will be emailing you to find out your choices and snail mail addresses so that these stamps can get in the mail to their new homes.

HAPPY CRAFTING!!!

Blog Candy Celebrating 4 Years!

Feb 152012

TODAY IS MY 4-YEAR BLOGIVERSARY!!!!
To celebrate I have FOUR stamp sets to giveaway!!!!

Let’s start with the set from Inkadinkado. (Each of the stamp sets in my blog candy are new and unused. The cards using their images were made with a duplicate set.)

Here’s a card I made using one of the images from Set #1.

The turtle’s shell is cutout and adhered to the card with dimensionals.

The set is called “Patterned Pets”.

The second set is from Hero Arts called “Dolls”.

Love these sweet girls.

So many cute images!

The third set is from Stampin Up.

Here’s a card using that brand new little chick.

Such a darling image!

This set is just in time to start your Easter creations!

And finally here is the last set which is also from Stampin Up:

And here is a card.

The watercolor look was achieved by coloring the stamps directly with a marker and then spritzing them with water before stamping.

Love the beautiful and elegant images in this latest SAB set.

To enter your name in the drawing for a chance at ONE of these sets, simply leave a comment BELOW ON THIS POST. This drawing will close at the earliest on Sunday, February 19th at midnight at which time I will draw FOUR winners. The person whose name is drawn first will have first pick of one of the four sets. The person whose name is drawn second will choose a set from the remaining three sets and so on. And remember, if you are reading this post in your Reader, you must actually come to my blog and comment on this post below to qualify for the drawing.

Good luck everyone!!

Happy Crafting!

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Card #1

Stamps: Inkadinkado “Patterned Pets”; SU “On Your Birthday”
Papers: PTI True Black; SU Kraft; Memory Box “Valise” Designer Paper
Inks: Archival Jet Black
Accessories: Grosgrain Ribbon; Rhinestones; Paper Piercer and Template; Martha Stewart Picket Fence Edger Punch

Card #2

Stamps: Hero Arts “Dolls”; SU “You’re My Type”
Papers: PTI Pinefeather; SU Blush Blossom; Jenni Bowlin “Home Sweet Home” Designer Paper
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black; Copics:

Accessories: Gingham Ribbon

Card #3

Stamps: SU “Everybunny”
Papers: PTI Select White; SU Taken with Teal and “Twitterpated” Designer Series Paper
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black; SU Taken with Teal and Certainly Celery: Copics:

Accessories: Martha Stewart Tulip Garden Edger Punch; Nestabilities Floral Doily Motifs and Classic Circle Dies; Rhinestones; Ribbon; SU Framed Tulips Embossing Folder

Card #4

Stamps: SU “Fresh Vintage” and “Create a Cupcake”
Papers: PTI Vintage Cream and Dark Chocolate; SU “Everyday Enchantment” Designer Series Paper
Inks: SU Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red, Certainly Celery and Summer Sun
Accessories: Kaiser Chocolate Pearls; Grosgrain Ribbon; Nestabilities Classic Circle Die; 5/8″, 3/4″ and 1-3/8″ Circle Punches

THIS POST IS NOW CLOSED FOR COMMENTS.

Five Minute Fun

Feb 112012

Last September I visited my son and his wife to help out with some babysitting while their second child was born. I was so surprised when he and his wife sent me a sweet thank you in the form of a wonderful stamp set by Inkadinkado called “Thank You Words.” Now how cool is that! Here is a quick 5-minute card that uses this set. Pretty much letting this gorgeous Lilybee Design “Happily Lost” designer paper do all of the work. LOVE the tiny scaled patterns on these papers.. perfect for card making and so fun!

(Here are a couple of cards I made using other sentiments from this same set.)

Continuing with the “5-minute” theme, I made this card using one of SU’s latest SAB stamp sets.

The sentiment was punched out and popped up for a little interest on this CAS design.

Thanks for stopping by today. Be sure to come back next week for some fun Blog Candy!! Happy Crafting!

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Card 1:

Stamps: Inkadinkado “Thank You Words”
Papers: PTI Vintage Cream and True Black; Lilybee Design “Happily Lost” Designer Paper
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: GG Ribbon; Rhinestone Heart; SU Scalloped Border Punch

Card 2:

Stamps: SU Elementary Elegance
Papers: PTI Select White
Inks: SU Elegant Eggplant and Always Artichoke
Accessories: Rhinestone; SU Eggplant Grosgrain Ribbon, Adorning Accents Embossing Folder and Curly Label Punch

Hearts and Butterflies

Feb 072012

My granddaughters called over the weekend and asked me to make Valentine’s cards for their school teachers. They wanted “hearts and butterflies”, so that’s what they got!

Besides the two finished cards, I made a couple more just like them that still needed a tiny bit of assembly. I thought I would send those, too, for the girls to put together so that they would feel like they helped make their teachers’ cards. But just in case they “messed up” or lost a rhinestone along the way, they would have the finished cards to fall back on.

The butterfly was given a little dimension by punching two butterflies, one of them from black cardstock, and adhering that one flat to the card front. The butterfly punched from the designer paper was then adhered with glue dots at the center of the black one and its wings were gently folded upwards around the rhinestones.

Just a heads up… Next week will be my 4 year Blogiversary, and I will be giving away 4 new stamp sets. Be sure to stop by for a fun giveaway. There will be a couple of new sets from Stampin Up, one set from Hero Arts and a set from Inkadinkado.

Happy Crafting!

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Stamps: SU Valentine Defined and Teeny Tiny Wishes

Papers: PTI Select White, Pure Poppy and True Black; Echo Park “Yours Truly” Designer Paper

Inks: SU Real Red and Basic Black

Accessories: Rhinestones; SU Butterfly Punch and Adorning Accents Embossing Folder

Sunsets

Feb 042012

Played along in the Inspiration Challenge #322 over on Splitcoaststampers today. I was inspired by a photo on the challenge site of a “Pine Baugh Fire Screen” in front of a warm glowing fire.

A friend of mine lost her father last week. Using the inspiration from the challenge photo, I made this card for her.

Sympathy cards can be so difficult to make. I always mean to make some in advance of needing them, but that seems a little morbid in a way. So I’m usually left to make them when the heart is heavy. But the simplicity of this card seemed so right for the occasion that I did make an extra one to put away that will hopefully not be needed for a long long time to come.

Using the mask that had been created for the sympathy card, I decided to sponge in another rectangle to use for this next card. Isn’t this the sweetest image.

My husband was truly my childhood sweetheart. We grew up neighbors, and I have no recollection of ever meeting him… I’ve just always known him!

Thanks for your visit today. Hope your day is filled with warmth and love.

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Stamps: Card 1: SU Thoughts & Prayers / Card 2: SU Take It to Heart and Three Little Words
Papers: PTI Select White
Inks: SU Basic Black, More Mustard, Really Rust and Ruby Red
Accessories: Nestabilities Long Classic Rectangle Die; Masking Paper; Card 2 Only: Velvet Ribbon; Rhinestone

CASual Friday Challenge #37

Feb 012012

Just recently found a fun challenge blog called CAS-ual Fridays. This week’s challenge is a sketch, and I decided to play along.

The sketch is flipped 90 degrees. Hope that was legal!

This card is for my sweet little great niece who will be turning 7 this month. She loves purple. Hope she enjoys this card (along with the green she’ll find inside)!

Happy Crafting!

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Stamps: Crafty Secrets Clear Art Stamps “Vintage Silhouettes”

Papers: PTI Select White; SU Lavender Lace; Vellum; Kaiser Craft “Magic Happens” Collection

Inks: Archival Brilliance Graphite Black; SU Lavender Lace; Black Marker

Accessories: Grosgrain Ribbon; Rhinestones; Primas