Fresh Snow Owl Card

Good Morning Everyone!

It has been a cold start to the holiday season here in New England. The first snow of the season fell heavy on Wednesday into Thursday. It was beautiful. I love the look of fresh snow as it covers the browned grass. It's time to pull out sweaters and make hot cocoa.

That was my inspiration for this card.

I mixed the creaminess of hot cocoa with the white of fresh snow using Core'dinations White Wash line.I embossed the cardstock using a Tim Holtz Alteration folder called Deer Knit. I then sanded the paper to remove the white from the raised impressions.

The image and sentiment are from Teresa Collins Fisker collection Winter. I stamped the image and sentiment with Hot Cocoa Memento ink. I then used two different sized snowflake buttons to embellish the card.

I have a kit to recreate this card for sale through eBay by clicking the link above.

Thank you for stopping by. Stay warm and enjoy the snow.

What's Black and White with Accents of Red?

Good Morning!

It has been a busy few days. This week I'm on vacation from my full time job. I have decided to devote most of this vacation to my crafts and art. I have finished two altered jewelry boxes and a few cards so far.

Adam Bagni has been busy drawing and designing digital stamps too. I will be posting these digital stamps in the Butterfly Garden on Friday. 

But back to the topic of this post....

What's Black and White with Accents of Red?

This jewelry box!

I used paper from Cloud 9 Designs called "71382 C9 NS Glitter Paper Pad 24sh/2s" and Core'dinations smooth black cardstock.

Originally the jewelry box had wood dowel handles. I cut them off and sanded the area smooth with sandpaper. I removed all the hardware and put them in to a ziplock bag. I then painted the entire wooden jewelry box with Apple Barrel "2043 White" acrylic paint.

With the top of the box removed, I began measuring and cutting pieces of paper to line the inside and outside of the top. I cut the pattern paper to be 1/8" smaller than the black cardstock. I ran each layer through my Xyron Create a Sticker and adhered them together. I used this adhesive to adhere the paper to the painted jewelry box.

Inside the cover there is a mirror. I used an X-acto knife to cut angles in the paper to create a seam between stripes of layered paper.

I used Mod Podge for Furniture to seal the paper to the painted wood. I covered every nook and cranny of the top (except the mirror). I set this aside to dry.

Next I began cutting pieces to cover the rest of the outside of the jewelry box. Again I cut the pattern paper 1/8" smaller than the black cardstock.

I measured and cut around the edges of the jewelry box where the drawer cut our is located. 

 I continued this process with the drawer and tray. Every surface once covered with paper including the bottom trim was sealed with the Mod Podge.

Once the Mod Podge was set I cut and lined the bottom of the tray and drawer with velvet paper in red. I used two clear drawer knobs that I purchased from Michael's to accent the front of the drawer and the jewelry box. I placed a red rhinestone inside each of the knobs and sealed it with E6000. I used the E6000 to adhere the knobs to the front of the jewelry box.

Once the jewelry box was dry, I used rhinestones to accent the top of the box and strips of velvet paper to accent the inside of the top. 

 

I then reattached the hardware. 

I hope you enjoyed stopping by and seeing this project.

Happy Crafting!

Freshly Made Sketches #149 Entry

Good Morning Everyone!

It's an over cast day here in New Hampshire. What better weather to create cards? Today I finished my entry for the Freshly Made Sketches #149 Challenge.

You can follow Freshly Made Sketches here.

Here is the sketch for this week's challenge.

Here is my interpretation of the sketch. 

 The image is of cherry blossoms from "Rubber Stampede" I stamped the image using Tuxedo Black Memento Ink. I colored the image using Copic markers (RV000, RV21, E25, E59, YG03) and accented the blossoms with Cotton Candy Stickles. The paper is from Core'dinations and Recollections.

Thanks for stopping by.

Freshly Made Sketches #130

Good Morning Everyone!

Today is another beautiful spring day! The snow out back of my building is almost gone. (Insert happy dance) However, I'm really looking forward to summer and taking a trip up to York, Maine. So for my version of the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #130, I decided to use a more summery theme.

This card is A2 size (4.25x5.5"). The cardstock is from Core'dinations and the pattern paper is from DCWV. I colored the stamp image with Copic markers. The brad and ribbon are items that I've had in my stash. 


Here is the original sketch










Thanks for stopping by!
Toni

"Joyous Elf" 2013 Holiday Card

Good Morning Everyone!

It's a chilly Autumn New England (USA) morning here in New Hampshire. It's the perfect weather for hot chocolate and card making. This weather always puts me in the mood to create holiday cards. I've noticed that this years seems to be going by faster than usual, so I better get in gear.

This card is created using an idea I found in the Summer 2013 edition of Card Maker magazine. The image was found doing a Google image search for "Digital Stamps." I do not own the rights to the image or the layout idea. This is just my interpretation of them.

"Joyous Elf"

Materials:

• Computer with printer
• Copic approved white cardstock
• White cardstock cut to 8 1/2 x 5 1/2, folded in half
• Core'dinations Vintage Card stock in Asparagus
• Polka-dot holiday pattern paper
• Holly print pattern paper
• Crochet lace in white (1/2" width)
• red/white baker's twine
• Red button
• Copic Markers in G05, G17, R22, E000, E00, E02, R27, E18, Y26
• Copic Colorless Blender
• Adhesive and dimensional adhesive
• Scotch tape
• Zots
• Zip Dry 
• Fun Flock in Cotton Ball White

Directions:

"Joyous Elf" Card Tutorial Video

1. Print image on Copic approved paper with a width of 2"
2. Color image as desired. I used the Copic colors listed approve
3. Trim image
4. Cut Asparagus cardstock- (1) piece 4 1/4 x 5 1/2", (1) piece 3 1/8 x 4 3/4, (1) strip 2 1/8 x 4"
5. Cut a piece of the polka-dot pattern paper to 4 x 5 1/4"
6. Cut a piece of the Holly pattern paper to 3 x 4 5/8"
7. Adhere Holly pattern paper to coordinating size Asparagus cardstock
8. Using the wrap around method adhere a piece of the crochet lace to the polka-dot pattern paper about 1/2' in from the left side along the long edge. 
9. Adhere polka-dot paper to the coordinating Asparagus cardstock and adhere to card base
10. Wrap a piece of baker's twine around the layered Holly pattern paper about 1/4" in from the long left side and secure using Scotch tape.
11. Adhere colored image to 2 1/8" Asparagus cardstock so that it sits center along three sides and trim excess. 
12. Adhere layered image to Holly pattern paper so that it sits along the edge of the baker's twine. 
13. Using dimensional adhesive adhere the image panel to the card front so that it covers half of the lace. (See picture above)
14. Using a piece of the baker's twine tie a bow through the button and adhere to card front using Zots.
15. Using the Zip dry adhere Fun Flock to image on ruffle of hat and shirt, and the pom-pom.

Day 2 of Winter Holiday Fun

Good Morning Everyone!

Here is the second creation in my Holiday Fun blog event.

This creations is using a stamp from Stamping Bella and paper from Core'dinations and DCWV. This is an A2 card measuring 4"x5.5".

Instructions-

• Cut a piece of Core'dinations White Wash Grandpa's truck cardstock to 4x5.5" and 2.75"x2.75"
• Cut piece of pattern paper to 3.75"x5.25". (My pattern paper is from DCWV 2011 Holiday Stack.)
• Cut a piece of smooth white cardstock to 2.5"x2.5"
• Using Tuxedo Black ink from Memento ink and stamp image on white cardstock
• Color image using Copic Markers
• Use Fiskers Heritage punch to cut the corners of the image cardstock and coordinating sized Core'dinations
• Ink edges of image with Tea Dyed Distress Ink by Tim Holtz
• Adhere image to cardstock and pattern paper to card stock
• Adhere image to pattern paper
• attach ribbon and bow
• Adhere card front to base measuring 8"x5.5" folded in half
• Write "Wishing you many 'Cups of Good Cheer' this season" on the inside of card. (Lyric from "We Wish You a Merry Christmas")

Today's challenge

Use a holiday song lyric in your project. When posting your project please state the song title. Please link through the comments section.

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 Online Holiday Crop-Lydia's Sketch Challenge

Good Evening Everyone in Blog land!

Whew! I finally found the perfect pictures to finish Lydia's sketch Challenge for the Online Core'dinations Holiday Crop. As I was going through my pictures I realized that I don't have many pictures of winter events. (Memo to self-take more pictures in winter. :) )

If you haven't heard of the Core'dinations Online Crop here is the link.
This challenge can be found here.

On to the final project....

Here is the sketch that Lydia gave as the challenge.

Unfortunately my camera doesn't work at the moment so here is the layout in scanned pieces.

I used paper from the White Wash collection. the border around the page is punched using a Fishers punch. I then sanded the edges to add a little more blue color to the edges. The pattern paper is from the 2012 DCWV Stack. I trimmed the pattern paper to 11x11".

I created the center divider using two punches from Fiskers and flipping one strip color side up.

 

The Snowflake in the corner is crocheted by me. The ribbon is from Michael's.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you feel inspired by this layout.
Toni

Core'dinations Online Holiday Crop-Margie's Challenge

Good Afternoon Everyone!

As you may know I'm participating in the online Core'dination Holiday Crop. Today I have finished Margie's gift bag challenge using die cuts.

Here is a picture of the final project.

 To create the die cut light bulbs, I used Core'dination's Vintage papers and my Cricut. The lights are from the Christmas Cheer cartridge.

I used the "Blackout" function to cut the base in the darker color. Then I cut the first layer using a lighter color.













The cap of the light bulb is cut using the shift key. I then "strung" them across the front of the bag using a piece of green ribbon.

2012 Holiday Gift Bag-Winter Landscape

Good Morning Everyone,

It's a busy day for me here in New Hampshire. Outside it feels like Old Man Winter is gearing up for a little snow. This inspired me to create a winter landscape gift bag.

 I used paper from the Core'dinations Chocolate box collection to create the trees and sky. The trees are cut at 3" and 3.5" using the Christmas Cheer Cartridge for Cricut. The snow landscape is embossed using the Swiss Dots folder for the Cuttlebug.

The ribbon is from Michael's.

 I found the snowflake jewels at JoAnn's last year.

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 Online Crop-Debbie's Challenge

Hello Everyone,

Ok I think I'm on a role with the Core'dination's Holiday Crop challenges. Here is the link to the Core'dinations website and to the Event page of Facebook


Here is my entry for Debbie's challenge:

I took some May Arts ribbon I had on hand and created a herringbone pattern. I then framed the ribbon pattern with a piece of silver paper and adhered it to the front of the card base. The base is 3"x 11". It is scored at .75" and 6". I pierced the .75" piece of paper and secured the three brads.


Thanks for stopping by. Please leave a comment.

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.

Getting Ready for the Holiday Hard Core Crafter

Hello Everyone,

So Core'dinations, one of my favorite paper crafting lines, is preparing challenges for a second Hard Core Online Crop! This time it's holiday themed. I'm so excited! I have been organizing my Core'dinations paper and gathering all my holiday embellishments together. Starting this coming Saturday the designers are going to be posting the challenges.

Here is the link to the Holiday Hard Core Crop Facebook page (Click the image below);

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving. Plus, I hope to see you online during the Holiday Hard Core Crop.

13 Days of Halloween-Day 2

Good Morning World!

It's warm and sunny here in New Hampshire. I love warm Autumn days. Today I have a vintage looking Autumn card that is super simple to create.

I used paper from the 2011 Fall/Halloween stack by DCWV and some Core'dinations Vintage cardstock to create the card. The image is stamped using Memento Rich Cocoa ink and distressed around the edges using Tea Dye ink by Ranger. The image is called "Colonial Fall" and is made by Impression Obsession.

I love how this card turned out. It's warm tones reminds me of Autumn joys from my childhood.

There are two card kits and a set of six (6) finished cards available for purchase in my eBay store. Just click the tab above.

Video:

Challenge: Today's challenge is to create a project that uses the vintage feel. It can be a card, scrapbook page or a piece of altered art. To enter your creation, just post your blog address where I can find the creation in the comments below by November 1st.

Thanks for stopping by.

13 Days of Halloween-Day 1

Hello Everyone,

I do apologize for not having this post up on the blog yesterday. I was rear-ended two weeks ago and I'm still recovering.

Today's challenge (or, well, yesterday's challenge) is to use Core'dinations Black Magic paper and pumpkin images to create a card, altered art item or scrapbook page. To enter simple leave your name and blog address where the image is posted in the comment section below. I can't wait to see your creations!



Here is an example-

Materials: 

• (1) 12x12 sheet of Core'dinations Black Magic Warlock
• Stamping Up Halloween Smiles Stamp Set
• (1) 8.5"x11" sheet of ivory Copic approved cardstock
• Memento Tuxedo Black Ink pad
• Cuttlebug Candy Cane embossing folder
• Halloween Dew Drops
• Orange with black poka-dot ribbon
• adhesive (runner and Zots)
• sandpaper or sanding tool
•  Cuttlebug with (1) A plate and (2) B plates
• Copic Markers-N0, N3, N6, C7, YR15, Y38, E59, E33, YG95, G99

Instructions:

1. Cut a piece of the Warlock to 4.25"x5.5", one piece at 4x5.25"and one piece to 3x3.25"
2. Cut a piece of the ivory cardstock to 8.5x5.5" and fold in half-creating a 4.25x5.5 card base
3. Cut a piece of ivory cardstock to 2.75x3" and stamp image from Halloween Smiles using Memento ink.
4. Color image with Copic markers as desired.
5. Place 4x5.25" piece of Warlock in embossing folder so that the black side is facing up.
6. Run embossing folder through Cuttlebug
7. Remove cardstock from folder and sand the the black side exposing the orange color underneath.
8. Adhere larger piece of Warlock cardstock to card base so that the orange is face up. 
9. Using the "cheater" or "Saver" method adhere a piece of ribbon to the left side of the embossed cardstock about .5" in from the edge
10. Adhere Embossed cardstock to center of card base
11. Adhere stamped and colored image to orange side of smaller Warlock and adhere to the card front
12. Adhere three Dew Drops using Zots 
13. Enjoy.