Altered Photo Frame

Normally my papercrafting consists of card making but last week I tried something different...........

I came across a paper mâché picture frame that I bought too long ago to even remember buying it.  Anyhoo, I decided to try my hand at "altering" it using some Graphic45 paper.  The red print is from the Dometic Goddess collection and the nutcracker is from their new Nutcracker Sweet collection.  I found a photo of our snow-covered house/yard/trees to put in the frame.  You likey?

Surprise!

Earlier this week I received an unexpected gift from a friend.  It's always a pleasant surprise to get snail mail; but when you open the snail mail and it also contains a gift................I need not say more.  The gifts (yes, there was more than one!) deserve their own (future) blog post so you'll just have to check back in a few days. 

My friend, Beth, lives in Oregon and enjoys farming, animals, crafting, designing cross-stitch patterns and photography.  She posts beautiful photographs of her family and farm on her blog, My Heartstring.  Anyhoo, I wanted to send Beth a special card to express my gratitude.

 

 

supplies used:

  brown cardstock - Bazzill Basics

  brown printed paper - My Mind's Eye Lost & Found Two - Blush collection

  sheet music paper - My Mind's Eye Lost & Found - Union Square (no longer available)

  wrens - Jenni Bowlin Wren collection

  "bling" - Webster's Pages

  sentiment - Our Daily Bread Designs - You Will Find Refuge collection

 

I am also entering this card in the Word Art Wednesday Card Challenge #51 and Twist of Faith Card Challenge #8.





Snail Mail

I wanted to make a card that had a "mail" theme for a friend in Texas.  Here is a photo of what I came up with

I will be mailing this to my friend but I also plan on submitting it to Authentique's monthly challenge.  Both papers used on this card are from Authentique's Journey collection.  All the papers in this collection have a blue and brown color scheme.  I think this is one of my favorite Authentique collections.  All stamps used (postage stamps, "hello", postmark, and pen) are from Stampin' Up.

Why not get your craft on and send some snail mail this week?

And The Winner Is................

Mr. Random Number Generator chose comment #5 to be the winner of my blogiversary giveaway.  Who left comment #5? 

Cheryl Hutcherson!!!.............."I shared on FB!"


True Random Number Generator
Min:1
Max:12

Result:5
Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Congrats Cheryl!!!! 

Two New Cards & A Reminder

Isn't this autumn weather fabulous?  Before too long the snow will be swirling and fireplaces will be roaring.....oh wait a minute.....forgot that I live in Tennessee and we don't always see snow swirling and the fireplace sometimes doesn't get used too often.  But I can always dream for this.......

 

 

Are you in the mood for Christmas?  Have you started making your Christmas cards yet?  I signed up for a Christmas card swap with Bazzill Basics Paper.  It's not too late for you to participate!  Anyhoo, I make 10 cards (same design), mail them to Bazzill and get 10 cards back (1 of my own along with 9 from other card crafters).  I also participated in their Halloween card swap a few weeks ago (see my October 2 blog post).  Without further ado, here is a photo of the card I made for the swap:

 



supplies used:

green cardstock - Bazzill Basics

tree trunk & "branches" - Bazzill Basics - Believe collection

snowflake & Merry Christmas stamps - Stampabilities

garland - Wrights gold metallic baby rick rack

star & red gemstone embellishments - stash

 

 

I *love* the garland on the tree.  I found the baby rick rack at Joann's.  I had planned on either buying red or green baby rick rack to use as garland but when I saw the metallic gold I immediately changed my mind! 

 

I have also been working on a card to submit to the Word Art Wednesday weekly challenge.  The Bible verse that they are suggesting for this week is from Ephesians:  "And be ye kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."  Here is the card I made for the challenge.

 

supplies used:

green cardstock - Stampin' Up

printed cardstock - Prima - Londonerry collection

hearts background stamp - Stampin' Up - Confetti stamp set

green netting - Webster's Pages vintage inspired netting 

 

The Prima paper, which pictures three girls along with a bunny in front of them, had "sweet and kind" written all over it.  I printed the Bible verse using a handwriting font, added a background stamp (hearts) and a green netting bow and adhered it all to green cardstock. 

 

Finally, I wanted to remind everyone about my giveaway.  You have until midnight Sunday night/Monday morning to leave your comments on the October 12 blog post. 

 





A Baby Card & A Giveaway!!!

I wanted to post a photo of the card I made last week for a dear friend's baby shower.  The inspiration for the card came from an Authentique blog post for their September card challenge.

The light blue background is from Jillibean Soup's Soup Staples collection.  The design on the paper (squares) made it easy for me to place the one inch squares around the larger 2 1/4 inch middle square.  I punched out one inch squares from blue-themed or baby boy-themed papers.  Some of the one inch papers are from The Paper Loft's Huckleberry Pond collection, Doodlebug Design's Snips & Snails collection, Echo Park's Pride and Joy collection, and Graphic 45's Playtimes Past collection.

The larger middle square is the nursery rhyme 'Hey Diddle Diddle' from Graphic 45's Playtimes Past collection.  The 'Rock-A-Bye Baby' banner is from Graphic 45's Little Darlings collection (can you tell I really like Graphic 45 papers?).  I added a blue button and a teddy bear button to two of the outside squares for embellishments.  Everything was then adhered to 5x5 yellow card stock.  Please keep in mind if you use a 5x5 envelope for mailing, you will need to add extra postage for "odd-sized" envelope.

I had a lot of fun making this card and coming up with the different coordinating squares.  I plan on using this card layout more in the future.

Now.......what's this about a giveaway?  Well, yesterday I celebrated my one year blogiversary (woo hoo!).  So to celebrate and to hopefully spread the word about my blog, I am having a giveaway.  Six products are up for grabs........

Jim Holtz Distress Ink in spiced marmalade;
Heidi Grace embellishments (16 pieces....in colors that would make adorable embellishments on your handmade Christmas cards);
A spool of ribbon with mittens on it;
Webster's Pages flowers and pins embellishment;
Martha Stewart butterfly embellishments (set of 6)
Bazzill Basics Paper 6x6 pad - Wayfarer collection (24 sheets, 4 double-sided sheets of 6 designs)

How can you win?  You get one entry for making a comment as a follower of my blog,  a second entry if you share the blog on Facebook (leave a comment telling me you shared on FB) and a third entry if you share on your blog (leave a comment letting me know).  You have until midnight on Sunday (10/14) to leave your comment(s).  The winner will be notified on Monday, October 15.

It Is Not Death to Die

I know....after seeing the title of this post your are thinking "What?  Is she crazy?"  No, I'm not crazy.  For those who trust in Christ, it is not death to die.  It is life.  Eternal life with Christ.  As the Apostle Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:6-8, "Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:  For we walk by faith, not by sight:  We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord."

A friend recently had a death in her family.  Today I have been working on a sympathy card to send her.  I had a general idea of what I wanted the card to look like.  I have a new chickadee stamp that I wanted to use on the front of the card along with some words of encouragement/comfort. 

I looked through an old Presbyterian hymnal and found the perfect words from a song written by H. A. C. Malan in 1832.  According to Google, Henri Abraham Cesar Malan (1787-1864) is recognized as one of the greatest French hymn writers.  I typed out the words of the hymn in a pretty script-style font and printed them on cardstock that had a sheetmusic background. 

Here is the finished product:

 

 

I stamped the chickadee on a piece of tan cardstock and used a coordinating die to cut it out. Stampin' Up markers were used to ink the stamp in brown (the branch), rust (the berries), and light and dark grays (the chickadee).  Once I stamped the image on the cardstock, I used colored pencils to enhance the color of the berries and to add some dark shading to the branches.  I was a little hesitant about using the chickadee die.  What if I didn't have it placed on the stamped image just right and part of the image was cut off?  The Our Daily Bread people have designed their coordinating dies so that it is extremely difficult to mess up the stamped image when diecutting. They have quite a few stamp sets with coordinating dies.  I think I'm sold on them! 

 

The chickadee was adhered to a piece of damask cardstock from My Mind's Eye (Six By Six - Blink of an Eye collection) using foam dimentionals.  

 

The right side of the card is the words of the hymn printed on the music cardstock from My Mind's Eye (Lost & Found - Market Street collection).   Here are the words to the hymn:

 

It is not death to die;

To leave this weary road,

And 'midst the brotherhood on high

To be at home with God.

It is not death to close

The eye long dimmed by tears,

And wake, in glorious repose

To spend eternal years.

It is not death to fling

Aside this sinful dust,

And rise, on strong exulting wing,

To live among the just.

Jesus, Thou Prince of life!

Thy chosen cannot die,

Like Thee, they conquer in the strife,

To reign with Thee on high.

 

The embellishment at the top of the gray ribbon is from Webster's Pages (perfect Accents).  Thanks to my crafting buddy, Cheryl,  I have a nice supply of these perfect Accents embellishments!! 

 

I will also be entering this card in the Word Art Wednesday weekly challenge #48.  

It's October!!!!!!!!!!!

Time to get ready for Halloween!  I don't do much Halloween-themed decorating around the house.  Most of my fall decorating is of the generic type (pumpkins not jack-o-lanterns) so it can last through November.  I do have a few things that are most definitely Halloween and only on display during the month of October.  One of those is a Charlie Brown dracula that plays the Peanuts theme song when his hand is squeezed....how cute is that!  I also have some black cat and jack-o-lantern cross-stitched pieces that get displayed this time of year. 

I have spent some time this week making Halloween cards.  Actually my Halloween card making started in August when I joined a card swap sponsored by the Bazzill Paper people.  I had to make 10 fall or Halloween themed cards (1 design, 10 cards) using the Bazzill All Hallows Eve paper collection.  I mailed my 10 cards to Bazzill; in return, I received back one of the cards that I made along with 9 cards made by other papercrafters around the US.  This is the card that I made for the Bazzill Swap.

Here are four Halloween cards that I made yesterday and today.

 

(the red is not part of the card)

 

 

 

(orange & blue is not a traditional Halloween color combo, but I like the way this one turned out)

 

 

 

This card

is not a typical style that I make.  The inspiration for the card came from the Graphic45 Papers blog.

 

 

 

And finally, a fun (that is, quick & easy) card:

I'm not listing the supplies that I used so if you have any questions about any of the cards, just let me know.  Now it's your turn.....go get your craft on!

All Things English

Tom & I recently returned from a two week Mediterranean cruise.  We had a *fabtabulous* time!  We cruised on the Celebrity Eclipse.  The ship left from Southampton, England.  We flew into London's Heathrow airport a day early.  Upon arrival in London, we took a bus (also known as a "coach") to Southampton where we had a little bit of time to explore.  This was our first time in the United Kingdom and we would love to return some time. 

The majority of our fellow cruisers were English folk on vacation (also known as "holiday").  We found them to be quite charming.  Our conversations ranged from Elvis (did you know that he never performed in England?) and US national parks to the Royal Family and the English countryside. 

Here is a photo of the hotel where we stayed in Southampton.  It was also the site of Jane Austen's 18th birthday party (go figure!). 



By the way, did you know that Southampton was the port that the Titantic sailed from?  Oh, but, I digress.....back to charming English things.  How about this mailbox? 

Wouldn't you be writing letters to your friends *everyday* just to walk down the street and drop them in that charming mailbox?  And the telephone booths................. I love how they match the mailboxes!

Fast forward to the day we disembarked from the ship.  Our plane did not leave Heathrow until late afternoon so we signed up for a post-cruise excursion to Royal Windsor Castle.  I hate to keep using the word "charming" but.........................look at the lamp posts! 

................and the men in uniform

We enjoyed touring the castle.  I was most excited about seeing Queen Mary's Dolls House.  Pictures were not allowed to be taken of the Dolls House so you *must* click on the link and check it out.  I did find a postcard pack of the Dolls House in one of the Royal Gift Shops so I do have "pictures" to put in my scrapbook.  Here's one more website that describes the Dolls House .  Isn't it charming???

After touring the castle, we ventured across the street to Maud's Ice Cream where we each had two scoops of incredibly charming delicious ice cream before heading back to our "coach".  We could have spent lots more time in Windsor exploring the quaint (notice I didn't use the word "charming"....although one definition of "quaint" is "charmingly old-fashioned") shops.  Maybe next time!