Thursday, February 21, 2013

Tagging some roses


The wind is frigid today, so I thought I might share something that reminds me of warm breezes.  Anything to shake that cold.  I may have to get the fire going before the sun goes down! 

I went on another rolled roses binge a bit ago, but I didn't end up using all the roses.  Honestly even after these tags I still have some left in "The Store".  I am happy to say that everything here is from my stash!  Slowly chipping away at things. :)

Looking at these I'm now craving some lemonade.  Isn't it funny how color combos invoke different seasonal feelings?  If these were all in pale blues and greens I might think of spring rains, greys and blues- crisp winter morning, oranges and golds- you've got a harvest afternoon. 

Alas, I am in the midst of winter and prepping for the next potential foot of snow.  Luckily it's vacation week so I can get to the market at an off time. :) 

I'm also in the midst of prepping for my next class!  It's going to be a "Sweet 5x5".  Totally different from what I had planned in my head as of Tuesday morning, but after hitting the store to gather goods, I was inspired by an adorable Lawn Fawn set.  You're going to love this class peeps, but that's all the hints you'll get about it, for now. ;)

I can't tell you much about the goods used to make these tags.  I know there is some BG and Crate Paper, but that's the best I can tell you.  :(  

Hopefully the cheery, happy goodness of it all brings a little warmth to you where ever you are today!

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Valentine's Revisited

Valentine's came and went, but I thought I'd do a quick recap. :)   These cake balls are a valentine take on these balls I made a couple years ago.  The fam got the job of eating these.  These weren't as good as the peppermint ones, IMHO, but the peeps seemed to like them so all was good. :)

I got together with some gals at work and made a few different valentine cards.  Here is a valentine take on this card.  Aren't these pink snowbanks soooo stinkin' cute!  Speaking of snowbanks...

The pre-valentine blizzard left us with over 2 feet of snow.  Would you believe most of it has melted in my backyard!?!  The mountain in front is still there.  The entire state was shutdown and a driving ban was in place for something like 48 hours.  It was AWESOME!  Not having to go anywhere or do anything was kinda fun.  DH and I went out after the storm to throw snowballs and act like kids.  Apparently when I wasn't looking my body got a little older- I manged to twist my knee playing in the snow!  I'm way better now, but how pathetic!

Hope you are enjoying your Wednesday where ever you are and that you have something silly to smile about. :)

Hugs,

Friday, February 15, 2013

A Fabulous Duo


Alas, I am hanging my head in shame (well sorta).  Valentine's Day & our Curious Cupid celebration got the best of me this year and I only got 2 more cards made from my goodie pack.  Good news is that this coming week is school vacation, so you may still see a few more creations! :)

Today would have been my dad's 65th birthday, so to honor him I made this birthday card.  Don't you just adore the clean lines and perky feeling of this card?!?!?! :)   My dad was a Miami Vice fan- the early years when the guys wore pink.  He even had one of those pastel pink shirts.  He was a fashion forward kinda guy and I think the pink on this card would have really amused him. ;)

The other card I managed to squeak out just under my self-imposed deadline was this "Hello Friend" card.  The 100% Girl paper is my favorite and I really wanted to see how it would look as a base for a fabulously layered card!  Wouldn't this make a great "get well", "thank you", or just "cheer your day" card?  I love those "just cause" cards.  They are an unexpected surprise of love in your mailbox.  Makes the whole day better. :)

Now before you wander off, let me remind you that many of the items I used here are ON SALE!  Also, we just had our Valentine Blog Hop, so you'll want to check out everyone's blog so you can comment before Feb 17th and be entered to win goodies!

Goodies from The Hen's Den used on these projects:
Simple Stories- Fabulous- 100% Girl
Simple Stories- Fabulous- Orange Mini Dot/Doily
Simple Stories- Fabulous- Sassy
Simple Stories- Fabulous- Brown Damask/Antique
May Arts- Orange Wrinkle Ribbon
Tim Holtz- Distressed Card Stock- Bundled Sage
Also used- Hot Pink Bazzill

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Triple Scoop for The Hen's Den Blog Hop!

It's The Hen's Den Valentine Blog Hop today!  All of us are highlighting a technique, tool, cool idea and if you hop along to everyone and leave comments at ALL the blogs you'll be entered to win some awesome goodness! 

The Hen's Den Blog Hop Roll of Awesomeness:

You have until Feb 17th to leave a comment on the posts for the hop to be entered to win!  Here is my part of the prize.  :) 

Leave a comment below to be entered to win (and you'd be my valentine if you became a follower!)

Now get ready to hop!  :)


So here's the skinny.  I've been trying to make as many cards as I can from the supplies Charlie sent (you can see the first trio here).  The DP is all from Simple Stories Fabulous collection.

Today I'm going to show you how I made this cupcake card (and 2 more versions too!).  The idea is not mine, I lifted it from Pinterest (via this gal).  There weren't directions, so here is what I did to make this tasty trio come to life. :)

I used my 2.5" circle punch, my 1.5" circle punch, and my 1" circle punch.  This kind of project is perfect for the Simple Stories Fabulous collection because having double sided paper gives you twice as many patterns to work with!

This shows you roughly what you need size-wise & number-wise & pattern-wise for circles.  I tried to used 1 "light in color", 1 "medium in color" and 1 "dark in color" pattern so there was enough contrast to see all the papers.

This is me playing around with the mats. I used 2 mats on top of every card base for each card, but the sizes were all different.  I went with whatever I had that I thought looked good.  Some had 1/8" borders and some were much fatter borders.  The cupcake holder/base is from the back of Flashcards paper free-hand cut.  I just eyeballed the shape.  This is an okay thing to do folks! ;)  IMPORTANT- Make sure when you glue down the cupcake holder/base you leave empty space at the bottom.  You'll find out why in a minute.  To help remind me to do this, I make sure the largest circle is pretty close to the top of card.

The next step is to add 3 of the 1.5" circles (each one should be a different pattern) along the top of the cupcake holder.  This is why it's okay to eyeball the cuppie holder.  Most of it will get covered by the time this card is finished. :)  Notice how the bottom right circle matches the largest circle?  You'll want to do this each time you make this card.  You'll see why a little further down. :)

Next add the remaining 1.5" circle.  See how the circle on the bottom left is the same as the one you just added?  This is also important for contrast.  Bottom left should always match upper right.

Now add the smallest circles.  The 1" circle you add to the bottom should match the 2.5" circle.  Now you have formed a triangle for your eyes.  Also if you had added the other circle to the bottom you'd never "see" it because it would blend too much with it's mate in the middle. :)

That empty space you left at the bottom left you with a place to add a ribbon and message.  See how it all works out?  And you were so worried. LOL! ;)  To add to the fun, and since it is Valentine's Day, I die cut a small heart for the "cherry" and one to go with the message.  Not a stamper?  No problem!  I used the sentiments from the page of stickers. Now that you know how to make these for yourself, I'll show you 2 more versions using this paper line!

One with more patterned background paper and...

One where I stamped the brown polka dots on the background.  No sentiment here just some distressing instead.  The pink "composition" pattern circles are from one of the flashcards on the Flashcard paper.

Don't forget to leave me a comment to be in the running to win the goodies from ALL the blogs in our Hen's Den Designers hop!


Supplies from The Hen's Den used here:

Simple Stories- Fabulous- 100% Girl (all 3 cards)
Simple Stories- Fabulous- Fabulous Flashcards (used on 1 & 3)
Simple Stories- Fabulous- Brown Damask/Antique (used on 1 & 3 for mats)
Simple Stories- Fabulous- Orange Mini Dot/Doily (all 3 cards)
Simple Stories- Fabulous- Sassy (all 3 cards)
May Arts Ribbon- Orange Wrinkled (card 1)
May Arts Ribbon- Ivory/Green (card 2)
May Arts Ribbon- Light Green Check (card 3)
Also used- Bazzill cardstock in Truffle & Hot Pink

Your next stop is 




Monday, February 4, 2013

Simple & Fabulous-Times 3


Wow, what a weekend!  Groundhog Day has us seeing 6 more weeks of winter (if you live in MA and believe Ms. G) or an early spring (if you believe Phil from PA).  Superbowl Sunday with a power outage delaying the game (who hit the wrong switch?!?).  Now there is a big sale at The Hen's Den!  Charlie is desperate to make room for all the new CHA goodies and is slashing prices on Fabulous goodies! :)  That means you're in luck 'cause the goods used in today's creations are ON SALE!!!!

Have you ever given yourself a personal challenge to see how much you can make using just the goodies in front of you?  That's what I'm doing for my posts this month.  My goal is to see if I can get at least 11 cards made using just what's in the photo above (I get to add ink, adhesive, & stamps though- a girl has to have some wiggle-room after all. LOL!)

For this Peace, Love & Happiness 2 U card I cut the Orange Mini Dots 4 1/8" X 5 3/8" and mounted it directly to the dark brown card base.  The next layer is the Sassy paper cut 1 3/4" x 5 with a piece of 100% Girl cut 1 1/2" x 4 3/4" glued to the center and foam taped onto the dots.  The Fabulous Flash Card, with the peace sentiment, is foam taped next.  The 2 U is from the Expression Stickers.

For this Hey Girlfriend card I again cut the Orange Mini Dots 4 1/8" X 5 3/8" and mounted it directly to the dark brown card base.  The next layer also uses the Sassy paper cut 1 3/4" x 5, but I flipped to the other side of the paper and again used a piece of 100% Girl cut 1 1/2" x 4 3/4" glued to the center and foam taped onto the dots.  Once again, the Fabulous Flash Card, with the lil' birdie speech bubble, is foam taped next.  The words, blue flower, and universal woman symbol are all from the Expression Stickers.

This last hi there luv! card, (say it with me folks) uses the Orange Mini Dots cut 4 1/8" X 5 3/8" and mounted it directly to the dark brown card base.  I changed it up on this next layer!!! :) Both pieces are layer is the 100% Girl paper cut 1 3/4" x 5 AND 1 1/2" x 4 3/4", but the bottom is the flower side and the top is the striped side.  They are once again centered atop each other, glued, and foam taped onto the dots.  Change up time!  The next layer is a die cut heart from pink Bazzill paper.  I crumpled it to give more depth and then adhered it to the card.  Next, you guessed it, we're using the Fabulous Flash Card, with the envelope, and foam taping it to the top.  The words are all letters from the Expression Stickers.  

*****Now you'll want to hurry in to get these goodies because the Expression Stickers are already gone!!!!  That's how good of a sale is happening!

Goodies from The Hen's Den used on these projects:
Simple Stories- Fabulous- 100% Girl
Simple Stories- Fabulous- Fabulous Flash Cards
Simple Stories- Fabulous- Orange Mini Dot/Doily
Simple Stories- Fabulous- Sassy


Sunday, February 3, 2013

Winner-day!


I got a little side-tracked yesterday and forgot to get this post up!  The winner of the Choose Your Own Card Pack is.......

Beth from Beyond the Garden Gate


If you didn't win, don't fret!  You can still swing by my Etsy Shoppe to get your own card set, OR you could even get your own card making kit with these lovely pink hydrangeas!