Patriotic Rosettes Wreath

Hi Everyone!

Many of you know that I love to decorate for each holiday.  I change my dishes and decorations to reflect the current holiday or season.  I live in Massachusetts just outside of Lexington where Patriot's Day is celebrated on the closest Monday to April 19.  So by April 19 my house has splashes of red, white and blue throughout it.  I keep those decorations up through the 4th of July. 

I couldn't find the patriotic wreath I created last year and decided to make a new one.  I used my Tim Holtz mini paper rosettes die and paper rosette die to cut a variety of red and blue papers.  I accordion folded the papers and turned them into rosettes.  I added star buttons to some of the rosettes and star brads to others.  Then I used a hot glue gun to adhere the rosettes to a wooden wreath form. 

Here's my wreath.

Have a great night!
Carol

Graphic 45 French Country Cards

Hi Everyone!

The moment I saw Graphic 45's French Country paper I knew I had to own it.  Over the past few weeks I have created 5 gift bags from the 12" x 12" paper stack and I am not sure how many cards I have made to put into those bags.  Today I have a few cards of those cards to share with you.  I used some papers from the 12" x 12" paper pad and some from the 8" x 8" one. 

One of the things that caught my attention were the sunflowers on some of the papers. The sentiment on today's first card was created with a Lockhart stamp.

. 
More sunflowers!  The buttons are from Favorite Findings.  The sentiment was created with a Lawn Fawn clear stamp.

 

More sunflowers!  Another Favorite Findings button.  I used a Northwoods wooden stamp to create the sentiment.

 



Even more sunflowers and Favorite Findings sunflower buttons.  I used another Northwoods rubber stamp to create the sentiment for tonight's last card.

That's it for tonight!
Carol

Gift Bag with Stylish Stix

Hi Everyone!

I couldn't wait until tomorow to share this with you.  I just finished creating a gift bag that I decorated with Stylish Stix from the Queen & Company.  I was inspired by the card on Heidi Van Laar's blog at this link.

I used some of the Stylish Stix that I purchased at the Creating Keepsakes Conference on Saturday to create my bag.  Take a look at the bag and I'll tell you how I decorated it. 

I ran a piece of white tag through my Fiskars crimping tool.  I found the "Make a Wish!" cupcake top in my stash leftover from another day. I used some glitter paper along with a leaf die to create my flames. 

 

Such a simple way to create a cheery birthday gift bag for any age.

 

That's it for now!

Carol



Shopping Trip!

Hi Everyone!

On Saturday Janet, Angela, Yvonne and I went to the Creating Keepsakes Conference in Manchester, New Hampshire.  We don't attend the classes.  We just go SHOPPING!

We started our day with breakfast at Panera in Burlington, MA and then Angela drove us to the conference.  I thought I'd share pictures of some of the things I bought with you today. 

I picked up some new rolls of Washi tape.  Janet shared a no cost way that she learned about storing Washi tape.  Take a paper towl tube and cut through the length of it in a straight line.  Roll the tube up tightly and slide the rolls of tape onto it.  Release the tension of the tube and it will open up to the full width of the tape.  The tape will now stand up as a tube of tape.  Here's the tape I bought on Saturday.

I am not sure why I love adding cloud images to my cards.  I own some cloud stamps, a clouds embossing folder, clouds Washi tape and ribbon, a Sizzix clouds die, and some metal clouds dies, but just HAD to buy the cloud punches I found in the Fiskars booth.

The deal in that booth was if you bought 3 punches you got a 4th one for free.  So I picked up a small jigsaw puzzle punch.  I already own the large one.  My preschool students love punching out puzzle pieces and gluing them together to make a "puzzle".

 

There were ideas for using "Stylish Stix" in the Queen & Company's booth.  I saw pictures of those ideas posted on Pinterest.  I plan to use the straws on gift bags.  My only regret is that I hesitated before I purchased them so the purple and yellow floral ones were gone before I could buy them.

 

 

I stopped by The Stamps of Life booth and was tempted to buy lots of packages of stamps, but chose just one package so I could buy other things too.  I chose ladybugs2love.

 

I bought some packages of tiny buttons

 

 

and some floral and star gems.

 

 

 

I also bought three 6" x 6" paper pads and one discontinued SEI club kit. 

 

We took a shopping break and had lunch in the hotel.  Later in the afternoon we stopped and shopped at Hobby Lobby.  We don't have a Hobby Lobby in Massachusetts so we like stopping at one when we are in the area. 

 

At Hobby Lobby I picked up a few things for my classroom. 

 

I've already been "playing" with my new toys so expect to see some photos of my cards soon.

 

Have a great day!

Carol

 



Hoping You're on the Mend

Hi Everyone!

Here's the current challenge for Case This Sketch. 

Here's my take on the sketch.

 

 

To play along with the theme of the sentiment I chose, I used a stitched-looking ribbon and real bandaids.  Clean, simple, and fun!

 

Have a great night!

Carol

 

Challenge 23

Hi Everyone!

I created a couple of cards over the weekend for a challenge.  I just realized it's too late to submit them to the challenge, but I can still share them with you!  The challenge was on Case This Sketch at this link.  Here's what the sketch looked like:

 

Here's the first card I created for the challenge.  That's Washi tape that is placed diagonally across the card.  The flowers were created with a Denami Designs wooden stamp.  I fussy cut them and used foam tape to adhere them to my card.  The text was created with a Northwoods wooden stamp.  

Here's my second card. 

I used a die to cut the cloud and then pierced the edges of it.  I stamped an Inky Antics sentiment on it.  The airplane was created with an Alley Way stamp.  I fussy cut it and used foam tape to adhere it and the cloud to the card.  That's Washi tape again across the diagonal of the card. 

Time to call it a day!
Carol

Ducky Decor

Hi Everyone!

Many of the puzzles and lacing cards I purchase for my classroom come in wooden boxes or trays.  To make clean up time easier for my students I store most of their toys in clear containers that I have labeled with words and pictures.  But I keep the wooden containers so I can use them for my crafts. 

I am planning to change the theme of my bathroom to ducks simply because I saw a shower curtain that I love.  The other night I used my duck Nestability dies and a wooden tray to create this shadow box.

Angela gave me a Heidi Grace "Sunshowers" 12" x 12" paper pad for my birthday.  The background paper that I used on the shower box is from that pad.  I fussy cut a sun from a second sheet of paper and adhered it to the paper with a double thickness of foam tape. 

The polka dotted papers are from Michaels.  There was a great deal there last week.  You could buy 5 packages of 25 decorative or 50 solid color sheets of tag for $10.00.  The eyes on the medium and large ducks are tiny brads.  I used a marker to add eyes to the small ducks. 

I used heart paper punches to create each duck's wings.  I cut the hearts in half before I adhered them to the ducks.  I used foam tape, glue dots, and small corks to make the ducks be 3 dimensional. 

That's it for today!
Carol