Key to my heart

I had a key hanger that had a cross stitch "Home is where the Army sends you" in a frame. Well it has been a long time since the Army sent me anywhere so I thought it time to update it. (I wasn't in the army; my husband was). Here is a picture of the frame/hanger - a bit blurry but you get the idea.

My heart is in need of some new keys so I made this picture. If I ever get time to cross stitching I may make something more permanent but I like the results for this. Here is a close up of Tilda and her keys.

All is colored with copics. The lace at the bottom of the dress has frosted lace stickles. Added dome flowers and sparkly candy dots in each corner. The keys a die cut from poppy stamps. The bow is some fiber from a basic grey collection. 

Hope you enjoy.

Cards, Cards, Cards

That title is for 3 cards. I actually made three cards. I haven't sold the house but I have moved to a small 2 bedroom apartment that I love. It was a difficult move but I'm glad I did it. Maybe later I will share some photos of the new place but for now I have cards to share and that is what this blog is about. The first two cards are for a couple of special ladies who helped me with the move. Both are Tilda's colored with copics.

 The flags on this one were made with washi tape.

 This is a Christmas card I made. The angel was embossed. Embossing is what got me into stamping but I rarely do it now because I am like a little kid - I love to color. The red dots are nailhead stickers.

Hope you enjoyed my creations as much as I did making them. It is so good to start creating again. There is still a bit to do in the apartment but it is definitely liveable.

Grape Tilda

I have been missing in action as I am going through my house trying to get it ready to sell and to move or move and then sell or something like that. It is so much work as I have been here for 20 years. Besides my four kids, a husband, my mother and mother-in-law have lived with us so there is much to clean out and there is only me. Someone want to help? Help! LOL My kids have helped some but they aren't here all the time. (thought I had better give create where it is due.)

Anyways I took time to create this evening.

I made Tilda with grapes. I think she is supposed to be holding a basket of cherries or maybe blueberries but I had that bunch of grapes sitting on my table and the stamp and thought why not grapes. The grapes were part of a set of pins to wear on clothes but I haven't used it so I took it for a card. Recycle - Upcycle - Reuse. Tilda is colored with copics. My youngest has hair just about this color. The die behind Tilda is from Sizzix. I took one of the smaller ones and cut two turning them on their sides and tried to make it look like one. :) Did a little bit of stitching around the edges. Added some flowers and the bunch of grapes. I tried to use scraps as I have so many and I don't want to move or pack anymore than I have to. Hope you enjoy. Maybe in a month or so I can get back to regular crafting. I know I have one card I have to do for September 4th. A birthday blog hop so hope you can come back then.

House Mouse Puzzle

My oldest daughter turns 30 on Wednesday. I don't know how that could be as I am only 25. But there it is. She has always loved house mouse stamps and puzzles. I never got any house mouse stamps but have recently started collecting them. I just got a bunch on ebay. This is one of them.

The puzzle is paper pieced. Lots of fun cutting out all the little pieces. The dp is from a 6 x 6 pad from Basic Grey. The mice are colored with prisma color pencils. The rest is colored with copic markers. There are touches of stardust glitter on the puzzle and on the box top. In the upper left hand corner are gold nailhead stickers. In the upper right hand corner is a puzzle piece tied with ribbon and a flower on top with another nailhead sticker in the center. In the lower left hand corner is a flower with a puzzle piece in the center, 

Here is a picture of the inside.

This is a picture of Emily and her then fiance now husband.

Christening Gown

This post is definitely not about stamping but I had to share the christening gown I made for my granddaughter. I saw this pattern in Sew Beautiful just at the time when it was time or maybe past time to start to make it. I knew it was just right. Not as frilly and long as some so it was more in my price range and time range. As it is it won't take long til she outgrows it. 

The fabric is Victorian batiste. I did all the lace insertions by machine but had to sew the laces together at the top by hand as I couldn't keep them from separating when trying to sew them together by machine. Here is a close up of the top.

 I haven't put the buttons and buttonholes is yet as when I got it done I thought the neck looked a little small so I will have to check it out and maybe take the binding and lace off and lower the neckline and then put it all back on. Sure hope not.

Here is a picture of the bottom with the embroidery I did. I almost didn't put it on but am glad I did. I think it adds a lot. 

Wish I would have kept track of the hours I spent on it just for fun but I didn't. It took me a month or more to do it but that wasn't steady work.

Here is a picture of Avani and her mother, my daughter. The picture is a few months old. 

Found a more recent one - most of my pictures are on my phone so had to figure out how to get it here.

Hope you enjoyed. And maybe inspired you.

Wonder and Joy Flags

I promised a second post for tonight so here it is.

I used Wonder and Joy from Red Rubber Designs for this card.

The girl is colored with copic markers and once again all the patterns use washi tape. The flags are made by folding the tape over the twine or the tooth pick and then cutting notches so they look like flags. It is really easy but adds so much fun. Notice that there are two different widths of washi tape used.

Washi Rose

I almost never make a card where I don't color but today I did it! There is no patterned paper either - just washi tape. That stuff is so much fun. Lots of pretty colors, less expensive than ribbon and not as sticky as regular tape so it is very forgiving when you make a mistake. I never make mistakes (blushing at my lying :)).

The flower is done with washi tape as well. You just haphazardly fold it in half and then wind it around itself and stick it on a one inch glue dot. I put a blue rhinestone in the middle. The saying is from April Showers by Penny Black. Look out I may get another washi tape card done tonight.
We did a card very similar to this at my stamping class at Stamp Fanci last night. I told my son I was taking classes there and he was surprised because he thought I should be teaching. There is always something new to learn. 
I am entering this over at That Craft Place http://thatcraftplaceblog.blogspot.dk/ for flowers

Pick up

When I was making this card I kept picking up stuff off my desk and using them. That is not to say you can really find my desk yet but it is slightly better, very slightly. :)

My niece graduated from high school this year. The colors are red and gold. I love that combination, maybe because I went to the same high school. 

Tilda is colored with copics with a few highlights with a white pen. The tassel is yellow stickles and the shoes have diamond glaze on them. The words and the tiny flowers around the image are from some old angel company stamp sets. The die cuts are from memory box. The pearl sprays, rose felt flower and lace are what were laying about. The flower is felt done with a memory box die. There are stickles on the petals. The papers are from lots of different companies. 

I am entering this in a challenge to use lace over at magnolia-licious 

http://magnolia-liciouschallengeblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/tuesday-challenge-lucious-lace.html

Hope you enjoy.

I wll always love you more

That's what the words say that you can't read too well because of the flower stems. I think I will send this  card to one of my daughters. I think as parents we love our children more than they love us. We invest so much time to make them responsible adults and then they fly away to make their own lives.

This card is a little different from my style lately but it was fun to do. Don't want to get into a rut. I took a class at my local stamp store and we played with distress inks, stains and paints so this is a take off from that. I sprayed the specialty paper with water and stamped the distress inks onto a craft sheet and spread it around. I stamped some numbers with the distress ink and put it in the corners and then quickly rubbed a little off so it wasn't so pronounced. Then using an embossing ink I stamped the little sunshines around. The flower is from Stampers Anonymous. It is colored with Adirondack markers with some white ink and then stickles. The butterflies are from a Martha Stewart punch with Queen & Co. gray pearls. The red dots are nailhead stickers. The dp is from basic grey. 

I am entering this in any thing goes over at Flutterby Wednesdays. http://flutterbywednesdays.blogspot.com/

Hope you enjoy.

Mary and Marty

A couple renewed their vows after 35 years of marriage. Isn't that wonderful. I love to hear people staying together. I love to see older couples being affectionate with one another. Love is staying together through thick and thin. Not to say there is never a reason to split but it is fabulous when a man and a woman can make it together.

This is the cover I made for their vow renewal.

The hear stamp is one of the first I ever got. It was so hard to get it to stamp right. I finally took it off the wood blog and used a acrylic block. That helped but I still had to do a few tries to get it right. The original colors of the wedding was a pastel rainbow so I chose lots of different colors to make the cover. The flower is from Magnolia. The dies are from Memory box. The flowers are colored with copics. Some stickles are pearls are added through the heart. Mary and Marty were done on the computer. 

Hope the couple enjoyed it and have 35 more years together.