Explosion Box

This is my first Explosion Box ever and even though I tend to be my own worst critic....I love it! This little box is such a neat way to keep memories of a special event. For the past several years a friend has asked me to make a favor or memento for a father-daughter dance called the Princess Ball at her church.  Our beautiful Poppy Parade is a perfect match for the red sashes that are being used in their color scheme.

I got to use so many different products while creating this box and many for the first time. I am so bad about ordering a product I think I am just going to love and then it takes me forever to actually pull it out of the packaging....please tell me I am not the only one! Although I had put my Mixed Bunch stamp set and coordinating punch to use previously, I have been sitting on the Textured Impressions Designer Frames. Why? It makes such a beautiful presentation and I will be using it a lot more often.



One of my Sale-A-Bration goodies, Language of Friendship. When I first saw this set I thought it was okay, but nothing I really had to have. Then thanks to all the creative ladies that so graciously post their work  online I found myself really wanting it.



On the top flap you can see where I used the new Framlits Labels Collection....I am liking these too! It may just be me, but I wish the nesting sizes were a tad bit closer in size. I like the matting that I did on the top flap, but I think I would have liked the black label to be just a bit smaller. I'm sure the dies are sized this way for a reason, but a girl can always wish :-)

Last but not least, I have finally cracked open one of several pads of In Color DSP from the Hostess Benefits to add a little pop to the blank flaps. When I originally put the box together I did not have the scalloped trim around the bottom of the lid. I looked at it for a couple of days and each time I just knew it needed something, it was too plain. I punched a couple of different borders and then decided upon the Scallop Trim Border, cut it about 1 1/4" wide and adhered to the inside of the lid and all of the sudden my explosion box was done.

I know most of the explosion box samples I have seen online started with 12"x12" paper, but since you can't get 12"x12" Poppy Parade only, I opted to go with a smaller size. I started with 8.5"x8.5" and scored at 2.75" and 5.75". Each subsequent layer was cut .25" smaller, but scored the same. The girls will be able to add small pictures and/or journaling on the flaps that range in size from 3", 2.75", 2.5" by 2.75". The reverse side of each embellished flap was left blank for the girls to customize.

I met with my friend last night to show her the sample even though I had already emailed her pictures. Her first comment was "the pictures do not do justice to this box"; what a lovely compliment! Well I am now off to start making 20 of these little beauties. Thanks for stopping by and checking out my newest project, have a great day!

Belated Birthday

 I have got to get busy and start crafting some more cards now that I am about done posting my latest creations. Can I please have about 12 extra hours per day? I know, don't we all wish there was more time to hide away in our craft rooms, or as in my case crowd the dining room table with my vast inventory of products :-) Bless my husband's heart he rarely says anything about it...love him!!

I also love this Mixed Bunch stamp set. As usual I was running behind on a birthday gift that was

already considerably belated so I had to go fairly simple. I have seen so many beautiful cards done with this set.

 

My upline did a tutorial on a card like this using the My Friend set and I  liked it so much I decided to CASE it. The only change I did was to add some Dazzling Diamonds to the White Embossing Powder to get a little extra shimmer. 



I know, here she goes again with that Because I Care set, but I'll say it again.....I really love that set!



Back to that Mixed Bunch set. I told you I was pressed for time so not only did I do simple, but repeats with minor color changes. The first set had Pear Pizazz centers on the flowers and here we have Baja Breeze. I am thinking next time I create one like this I bump it up a notch with some background embossing.

Well, I learned my lesson with this set of cards. I asked my 6 year old what was his teacher's favorite color. He proudly and definitively stated "purple and pink!" So I tried to follow that color scheme throughout this set of gift cards. Just recently I found out her favorite color is green....uh-oh. I find that a tad bit funny, because that is my son's favorite color as well; perhaps he just was helping his teacher expand her horizons on other color choices.



Finally, another Because I Care and in pink, but at least there is some green on the card!

As always, thanks for stopping by!

One Sheet Wonder

Happy Valentine's Day!!! No Valentine's cards to post today, but hey, I am just patting myself very lightly on the back just to have posted twice within a week's time :-)

I just love this DSP, Paisley Petals, I think it is so elegant. Quite some time ago I got the urge to do some One Sheet Wonder cards with this paper. I searched for layouts, cut cardstock and DSP, had everything ready to go and then I stopped. Then I finally got the urge, many months later, to play with paper and stamps again and this is what I did. I actually made a mistake when I was cutting the designer paper so I ended up with more cards than I was supposed to, but how is a paper crafter going to complain about that?!

Somehow I found a template by Keri Lee Sereika (thank you) and luckily I scanned the template and the card layouts because I have never been able to stumble across this particular one since then. I changed a few things here and there just to put my touch on it.

 

I did keep the theme going by only using birthday sentiments

 

You can never have too many birthday cards on hand, can you?

 

It's good to be posting again and I thank you for stopping by!

1 Year and 13 Days Later.......

Wow, do I have a lot of catching up to do!!! It has been a very long while since I have posted and truthfully, it's been a long while since I even wanted to post. Last year was not a good year and hope to not have to repeat a similar one any time soon. Next Friday, February 17 will mark one year since I lost my dad....I never imagined how hard it was to lose a parent. I have lost other folks in my life (I am far from being a spring chicken), but to lose a parent was incredibly hard for me....my dad...my hero. I never told him that, but I hope he knew I would walk through fire for him. This is my favorite picture of us ever......

Dad had been ill for a while with COPD, he was sick a lot longer than he ever admitted, but he was a stoic man. It was honor to have helped care for him during his last few days at my parents home. My brother, husband and I were there 24/7 and I would not have had it any other way. I did not have the desire to do much over this last year other than the things that had to be taken care of, family, our business, helping Mom take care of all the "stuff". As much as I knew I needed to be there, I stayed away from my church and church family, but they supported me through cards and phone calls, I didn't craft, I didn't read, but I tell you what I sure could cry you a river when those darn COPD medication commercials came on the TV! Yes, even now I have to laugh at goofy things like that to keep the tears at bay. I was so lost for so many months and then my Pastor asked if she could come visit me at my home. She had been so kind to offer her services over the previous months...my husband would come home from service and let me know who was asking after me and what did I need or want, but I just shrugged it off because I could do it on my own....yeah, right. Little did  she know the tidal wave of emotions that she was about to be hit with, thank you and bless you Kim! Since that visit I have slowly been getting myself involved in the things I once enjoyed....I started my crafting journey back by crocheting baby caps for the local hospitals, I returned to Church and my family there received me with open and loving arms, and I finally started paper crafting again....hooray!!! So this brings me to where I am today, bending your ear with a wish to do what I enjoy and share my creations and yes, Dad would want me to be happy.

Well, now that  sure was a not quite so happy way to start back with my blogging journey! But on to happier moments with an end of the year (that would be last school year... 2010-11) thank you card and gift made for my son's teacher.

I really enjoyed using the new embossing powders on this Flower Fest card. Just do me a favor and ignore that little dark spot on the "thanks" sentiment. I was a very bad girl and did not get my digital camera sensors cleaned like I should have and this was the price I paid.

I am not sure why this next picture came out so dark, I used the same light box, camera, etc....the end result is not so good. I gave the teacher some monogram cards as well as all occasion cards.

Monogram Note Cards

Because I Care Thank You card

Just Believe

More Because I Care (yes, I really liked this stamp set)



Just Believe (again...I really like this one too)

And another Because I Care.

Well, I should wrap up this first post for 2012 and get to my list of must-do's for the day. I will do my best to post on a more regular basis ....I do have a few pictures stashed away of the cards made over the last few months.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my ramblings. I look forward to many more posts!!! 

Charming Inspiration

I was inspired to create this card for my youngest son's preschool teacher for her birthday. Her favorite colors are green and blue green. I received a card similar to this from a recent swap (posting of swap cards coming soon), but changed a little here and a little there. Seems I just cannot get enough of this Victoria Crocheted Trim, I love it! The stamp set is Charming and the sentiment is from the Occasions Mini set Create A Cupcake. I have also developed a very strong liking for the Naturals cardstock and used the Naturals White with Garden Green, Not Quite Navy, and Peach Parfait card stock and inks.

Our class sent both the teachers out to lunch together-something they rarely get a chance to do so I creatively folded their lunch money into hearts. These were $10 bills and I love how the image came out after all the folding. Believe me, if I had tried to make it happen it would not, so this was just a stroke of luck and the the design of the money. I made a "pocket" with punched hearts to hold the money hearts and adhered with Stampin' Dimensionals.

And here we are! Money hearts tucked neatly into a color coordinated heart pocket. I really had fun creating this card and I thank Melissa Bunn for sharing her talents to inspire me to create Mrs. B's birthday card!

Break Time with Bold Blossom and Punch Bunch

Well, thought I would take a break and post a couple of card samples. I have been scrubbing the cabinets under the sink from overflow where we had a massively stubborn clogged that we worked on for about 4 days!!! Finally we had success with the help of an old friend of my husband's who just happens to be a plumber, thank you Thann. Needless to say I would muuuuch rather be crafting than scrubbing, ha! ha!

This past Saturday I met with a great group of ladies to talk a little Stampin' Up! business and swap some cards. I am posting my two swap cards today and will add pictures of the other swaps I received. There were some very talented ladies and their cards are too beautiful not to share. Keep checking back for those posts.

This is the Bold Blossom stamp set from the Occasions Mini. I CASEd this from....oh shucks, she didn't watermark her photo and I course I forgot to write it down! I did make a few changes by stamping the flowers directly and not cutting them out. I also used pearls in the center rather than brads, white satin ribbon rather than Daffodil Delight ribbon and stamped the sentiment from the Sale A Bration set  So Happy For You then punched with the Modern Label Punch, while the original had the birthday greeting (Sincere Salutations) stamped directly onto the green. I believe I found the original on Stampin' Connection and it is so cute. Thanks to the original stamper for the inspiration! 

I used inspiration from Julie Davison for this card. Using the Sale A Bration stamp set Punch Bunch, Rich Razzleberry cardstock and ink, Springtime Vintage DSP from the Occasions Mini, and the Square Lattice Embossing Folder I added more layers than Julie's original which you can see here:

http://juliedavison.com/ProjectKits/1012_MonogramNotecardKit/index.html. Since I am still relatively new to this whole blogging thing I hope it is okay to link back to Julie's original creation, if not please kindly and gently let me know.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek at my latest work. I will get busy on showing those other swap samples in the next few days. Have a great weekend!

Lovely As A Tree

  I really must pull this Lovely As A Tree seet out more, it makes wonderful cards! This is another CASEd card that has been tweaked to make it my own. The layout is the same but the original has 2 brads on the layer with the stamped tree and used the chocolated chip gingham ribbon (retired), and a circle punched sentiment (retired). I chose to us the EnFrancais background stamp with So Saffron Ink to add some interest to the first layer. I also wanted to add more texture so I used the Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder the the all narrow strip and mounted that on a Chocolate Chip layer.
The tree image was stamped in Chocolate Chip  ink on Very Vanilla cardstock and the edges were hit with a little Crumb Cake for that aded feel. I think this would be a good manly card, but would probably use the Square Lattice Embossing Folder in place of the Vintage Wallpaper in that particular case. All in all, this is a simple and easy card to do, simple and elegant, one of my fovorite things. Thanks for stopping by for a look.