Let the Winter and Holiday Fun Begin!

Hello Everyone and Welcome!

 Last night my boyfriend and I snuggled up to watch "A Christmas Carol" with Jim Carey. Wow, there were some parts of the movie that were not very kid friendly for a Disney movie. I was looking all over the box for Tim Burton's name, but I guess he didn't work on this film. I love who Jim is able to project and change his voice. His voice just carries the emotion and energy of the Scrooge character so well. It was very good and followed the original work by Charles Dickens very well.

On another note...

Today kicks off my 12 Days of Christmas Blog challenge. Guess what? I'm even starting on time! Today's challenge is a Joy-Fold Card.

Here is a picture

The card measures 4"x5.5"

Materials:

• Core'dinations Vintage Cardstock in Kisses and Clover Patch
• SEI Holiday Traditions Dreams of Wonder Cardstock
• (3) square metallic green brads
• Smooth white paper from the Paper Loft
• Tuxedo Black Memento Ink pad
• Adhesieve
• Outlines small and medium snowflake
• boner folder
• paper trimmer

Instructions

• Cut a piece of the Clover Patch to 4x8.25" score and fold at 2.75"
• Cut a piece of the Clover Patch to 2.25x7.5" score and fold at 3.75"
• Cut 2 pieces of the Clover patch to 3x3" and adhere back to back
• Cut a piece of the Clover patch to 1.75x1.75
• Cut a piece of Kisses at 2.75x2.75" and one at 1.5x1.5
• Cut a piece of smooth white to 3.5x2"
• Cute a piece of pattern paper to 3.75x5.25", and (2) pieces 3.75x2.5"
• Stamp images on smooth white and trim around the edges

 

• Adhere images to coordinating sized cardstock
• Punch holes and secure brads in lower right hand corner of larger panel of pattern paper. Adhere panel to inside of larger green cardstock
• Adhere one of the smaller panels of pattern paper to the flap of card base. Reverse pattern for inside of flap. 
• Adhere folded strip of green cardstock so that the flap of the card base is sandwiched between. Center the strip on card base before pressing into place
• Adhere smooth white strip to the front of the strip flap then adhere medium snowflake layers to the strip flap
• Adhere small snowflake to inside of the card

HERE is the challenge-
Create a Joy Fold card using snowflakes. The snowflakes can be part of the paper, stamped, or both. Be creative and link your card through the comments (meaning put you blog/flicker/etc. address in the comment) Deadline is December 31st 2012.

Core'dinations Holiday Online Crop--Jennifer's Challenge

Well it's Sunday, which means Day 2 of the Core'dinations Holiday Online Crop

Today I have a matching gift bag and tag for Jennifer's Challenge.

 I used paper from the Vintage and White Wash Collection. I cut the snowflake embellishments from the Winter Woodland Cricut cartridge at 2.5"

 For the tags I used White Wash cardstock as a base and embossed them in the Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots and Birds and Swirls folder.

Plus I made a card to go with the bad and tags.

Thanks Jennifer for the Challenge.

Core'dinations Holiday Crop-Leica's Challenge

Good Evening Everyone!

Today is the first day of Core'dination's week long Holiday Online Crop. Here is the link to the Core'dinations website and to the Event page of Facebook

So here is my project for Leica's challenge:

 I used Core'dination's White Wash collection and my Holly Ribbon 5x7" Cuttlebug folder to create the large background on the gift bag (embossed piece measures 5x7" and is mounted on 5.25x7.25".

The Holly is cut using the Winter Woodland cartridge from Cricut at 3.5 inches. I cut this embellishment using the Core'dinations Vintage Collection. The lighter green leaf (Kilt Green) is embossed using the branches folder for the Cuttlebug. The berries (Kisses) are embossed with the Swiss dots folder.

 The sentiment is mounted on a piece of White Wash Barn Siding color side up (3.25x3.25").

Thanks for checking out my creation. I hope you are able to play along by checking out the links above.

A Steampunk Morning

Good Morning!

It's finally Friday here in New Hampshire. I woke up this morning wanting to watch Return to Oz. If you  haven't seen this movie you should. It's a great 'what-if' movie. Anyway...

Last night was a great night at the Steamy Swan Society's first movie night event. We screened League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The event was a hit! We had about twenty-five plus people and plenty of goodies including popcorn (a movie staple), warm brownies, cookies, soda, and mini pies. As a group, we look forward to having more events like this in the future. We are currently working on a Masquerade Ball, Victorian Tea, and a Murder Mystery Theater.

I'm so happy to find people in my area that are into the culture/genre that is Steampunk. So this post has some of my recent projects that incorporate aspects of the Steampunk world.

Steampunk is basically a what-if scenario. What if technology didn't progress the way it did? What-if everything was still powered by steam? This genre takes on properties of popular fiction during the mid 1800's through about 1910's. Julies Vern for example.

3D Mandala using Assorted papers and Embellishments

A paper pin for the Mystery Murder Event

A card for a time traveler (i.e. Birthday)

Love Graphic 45 paper

  Thanks for stopping by and reading. Have a great day!

Technique #1- 3 Tier Stamping

3 tier stamping is a fun and easy way to create a layered card or background for a scrapbook page. This technique uses three layers of paper that gradually shrink in size. When stamped this layering creates a cascading effect with the stamped image. When practicing this technique, it is easier to use a stamp that has a flourish image.

You can find a printable version of these directions here.

Materials-
-(1) 8 1/2x11" piece of white cardstock
-(1) 8 1/2x11" piece of colored cardstock
-(1) stamp with a flourish
-(1) card base of 8x5 1/2" folded in half
-ink in your choice of color (chose an ink that won't run when using the distressing ink like Memento)

-distressing ink a coordinating color to the ink used to stamp the flourish-this should be lighter than the stamping ink
-distress ink applicator
-ashesieve
-1/8' pop dots
-fibers or ribbon for embellishment

Directions-
-Cut the colored cardstock into three pieces measuring (1) 3 3/4x5 1/4, (2) 2 3/4x4 1/4, and (3) 1 3/4x 3 1/4"
-Cut the white cardstock into three pieces measuring (1) 4x5 1/2", (2) 3x4 1/2", and (3) 2x3 1/2"
-Using a small piece of adhesive, layer the three white pieces of cardstock so that the smallest piece is on top (You may have to dull the hold of the adhesive by pressing and lifting your finger off of it)
-Ink up the stamp using selected color
-Stamp randomly across the three layers of white cardstock making sure the flourish overlaps the layers of paper.
-Continue inking and stamping (for this size card about 3-4 times)
- Peel the three layers apart and apply distress ink using applicator tool.
-Adhere the stamped pieces to their coordinating sized background paper.

IMPORTANT- Check your stamped images to make sure they are going the right way and mimic the stamp image across the layers.


-Adhere the top and middle layer together by centering the top layer over the middle.
-Wrap ribbon or fibers to embellish around the top and middle layer.
-Use pop dots to adhere top two layers to bottom layer.
-Adhere bottom layer to card base and enjoy. 

Steampunk Altered Art Shadow Coffin

Good Afternoon Everyone!

It's sunny and hot here in New Hampshire USA. Laundry is drying in the sun and I have finished another Steampunk themed project. I bought the coffin at Michael's and the paper from Stamping Memories in Belmont NH.

This item is available on ebay

Front of the outside-

 Inside the coffin-

The pattern paper is from the Graphic 45 Steampunk Debutante collection. I used some of Tim Holtz's Wild Honey distress ink around the edges of the paper.

I used denominational foam under the flowers in the left side of the coffin and the corset on the right side.

The charms are jewelry pieces in my collection of embellishments. The loop opens to add more charms or to change the assortment. I spray painted the gears using Krylon paints.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

My Love for Graphic 45 Paper!

Good Evening Everyone!

So I started teaching classes at Stampin' Memories in the Belknap Mall in Belmont NH. They are the only place in New Hampshire that I have been able to find Graphic 45 paper. I love this paper! I find that it's weight is great for all my projects and it's double sided. Which means I have pages that coordinate.

On December 3rd, I will be teaching a class about envelope books called Vintage Christmas Brag Book. The project I designed is using papers from the Christmas Emporium and Le Cirque collections by Graphic 45.

Please visit Stampin' Memories' Website at www.nhstampinmemories.com and Graphic 45's website at  http://www.g45papers.com for more information on classes and products. Graphic 45 products are also available through my store. 

Below are pictures of the paper I used.