Mojo459

I haven't posted to Mojo Monday for quite a few weeks, been doing my own thing and problems with my little photo area........life happens.  But I started one today and got it finished, may even do another one tomorrow, I really like this sketch.

I got a new light above my craft area...5 bulbs!  I can see.  I put in daylight bulbs and now my pictures don't have that yellowish cast to them.

This is so not traditional but I had this snowflake paper and if you look real close on the bottom right of the tag, you can see that it has green snowflakes mixed in with the blue.  there is also one peeking out on the top right corner if you look real close.  It's too bad that I'm so miserly or I would have cut it so there would be more showing and the others got covered up with stuff.  The plaid paper just makes me happy and it matched which made me even happier.  I really, really wanted some striped paper  but I couldn't find any in the right colors in my stash so I made some of my own.  I taped my white CS down on my cutting mat at a 45 degree angle and just lined my steel ruler up with the lines on the grid and drew lines with the broad tip on my Copics.  Turned out perfect.  Where there's a will there's a way.  Anyway, the plaid paper is DCWV and I believe so is the blue snowflake paper.  I had a strip of very light green glitter paper in my Christmas folder that just begged to be used here....now if I could just remember where it came from........I cut the large snowflake (Sixxiz) out of the striped paper then matted to some matte silver CS from Kanban with the Glitter paper sandwiched in between.  I stamped (Verve, Holiday Treats) and embossed (A la Mode clear sparkle) the tag and added a sweet little bow.  I finished it off with some snowflakes (Heartfelt Creations Snow Kissed Collection)  mounted on Dimensional foam.  I haven't done the inside yet but I mounted the snowflake that was cut out of the striped paper to a square piece of the glitter paper and it's going in somehow.  I almost forgot to mention that both the snowflakes and tag have coordination dies, there's no way I could fussy cut that well!

Thanks for stopping by, if you have a minute, check out my last couple of posts to see what else I've been working on...there's a gift bag and a couple of cards.  Comments are always appreciated but not required.

Happy Crafting

Mixed Companies

Ever have one of those cards that start out as one thing and end up another?  This one started out as a CASE from one of the cards from the Heartfelt Creations blog but I don't have all the stuff they used on theirs so I started out with just the general sketch.  I wanted to use mostly Heartfelt Creations but it ended up not to be......Here's the card then I will tell you what I used.

 I used some Coordinations CS for the base, then matted with some pearlescent in a soft grey...I wanted to use white but I didn't have any.  I ordered pearlescent from Create and Craft but it was all different colors .....a real sweet deal, 50 sheets for 12.99 but no white.  I also used the soft grey for the corner dies.  The center is the same as the base CS.  I used some Theuva Super Smooth from Clarity Stamps to stamp out the little Poinsettias and some lighter weight CS (generic) for the larger poinsettias.  The wreath is also cut out from the lighter weight and then colored with my Copic Markers since I couldn't find the color CS I wanted.   So, the corners are dies from Creative  Expressions (the Austrian Collection), the wreath is from Tonic, the large poinsettias are from Tattered Lace and the smaller poinsettias, the sentiment and the holly stamp are from Heartfelt Creations Celebrate the Season Set...the inside sentiment is also from the same set.  The Heartfelt Set also has a wreath but it wasn't big enough to fit the Merry Christmas sentiment inside.  I forgot.....the blue mat is Matte Mirry card from Create and Craft.  Here is a close-up of the front.

And the inside.  The snowflake paper was in my Christmas stash but I don't remember what company it is from.  I think it came out of a Christmas pad from DCWV.

So there is some of my latest projects.  Hope you enjoyed.  Stay Happy Crafters!

DB Christmas

I'm on a Christmas card binge right now since I've been buying Christmas in July.  Here is another Debbie Moore design.

Isn't she beautiful?  The face reminds me of the actress who plays Beckett on Castle....Stana Katic.

She is another Freebie, I believe she is from the Regency Collection.

Again, that website is

Debbi Moore Designs

The red background is some shimmer paper (DCWV), then layered with Gold Mirror from Create and Craft, then the green is from the Debbie Moore Christmas Fairy CD.  The sentiment was on the sheet I downloaded along with a couple more toppers and the ribbon on the inide.  The poinsettias are from Heartfelt Creations Celebrate the Season Set I just got (Stamps and coordinating dies) and the bling is from Michael's.  The inside sentiment is from Heartfelt's release last year, Sparkling Poinsettias. and the Holly is from Celebrate.

Upcycled gift bag

I have not blogged lately, sadly a lot of my creations went out the door without any documentation...breaks my heart because they are all my babies and I hate to let them go without something to remember them by.  Crazy, but that's how I feel.  My guys took over my space I use for taking the pics and my craft space is so small, therefore always a mess that I am plain embarred to have it show up in my photos.  I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but I took  my latest creations outside on the deck for some natural light.....I fight with lighting all the time because the inside lights always give a grungy yellow cast to my photos.  I haven't had the funds to buy some lighting equipment to fix the problem, so this was a surprise.  I doubt anyone will see these since I don't have any followers to speak of outside my family and they don't really follow what I do.  It's strange, they grew up with crafting, we used to have such fun in February making Valentines together and any time I would drag out my stamping stuff they would all be in the middle of it.  I was always doing some kind of craft, sewing, knitting, crocheting, crossstitch, even had a go at quilting, cake decorating was a must do since I had 5 kids...and they had some really awesome off-the-wall cakes.  But I digress......

So, I have some pictures of my most recent projects..

First up, My son orders pizza from a well known pizza chain and they put the paper plates and accouterments in this really sturdy bag.  Since it's not any actual food products the bags are pretty pristine so I decided to upcycle one.

I missed the tag in the first one........

The background paper is from Kaiser Craft, I got it about 5 or 6 years ago from a Website, advertised a 10 pack and naive me thought it would be 10 different sheets.  I like it or I wouldn't have bought it but I flit around a lot with papers when I'm making cards....no 2 are the same so I will still be using it a couple of years from now.  the next paper on the corner is from a CD I got from Debbie Moore.  She is the creator of the wonderful Fairy artwork in the center.  The fairy is a decoupage sheet that I downloaded for FREE (I love free) from her website.  The sentiment, flower and little button on the tag are from her Christmas Fairies CD.  The gold Mirror card is called "Silk Mirry" from Kanban.  I ran it through an Anna Griffin Cuttlebug Embossing folder and then sanded it a little bit.  I also used a little piece to mat the sentiment.  I choose to put up these two not just because of the tag but also because you can see a little of the glitter bling on the flower and sentiment.  After watching some demos from Debbie Moore, she takes an embossing pad and inks up an entire piece of something and uses some clear powder with sparkles in it.  Gives it a soft look with sparkle.  I thought "Why didn't I think of this"  I tried it, I like it.

If you would like to see more of Debbi's artwork you can catch it at
Debbi Moore Designs
m
Unfortunately it's a UK company so ordering is out of the question since the shipping will kill you but you can buy the CDs every once in awhile from Create and Craft.

So that's the bag.  I will post this and get busy on blogging the cards.

Happy Crafting

Mojo444

Here's my take on the sketch.......I was thinking about when I first started out making cards (other than in school!) and being "guilted" into having a D.O.T.S. Demonstration at my house because I missed the one at my cousin's.  I just didn't think it would be something I was interested in, remembering the little rubber stamps I used when I was young....they never stamped an image that was worth coloring in and I never really played around with them much so I was not looking forward to this evening at all.  Much to my surprise, quality really does matter and I was hooked.  This focal stamp was in the first order and was always my favorite so I decided I needed to use it no matter what, it had been too long.  My wooden stamps are in a Sterlite chest of drawers and I rarely use them only because it's much easier to go through my stash of clear and cling stamps to find what I want.  The wooden stamps I use a lot have been transferred to cling mounts just for that reason.  So, this stamp did not lend itself to a circle since it would be huge and blot out the panels so I just went with a rectangle instead.  The background paper and panels both come from a CD I just got from Tattered Lace.  The background is actually yellow with tiny little GREEN leaves although they show up kind of tan in the picture.  The card is 5 X 7 in black CS.  I think the black just pops the bright colors when you mat with it and a real thin mat doesn't detract much from the overall look.  The focal stamp is called Springtime Spray and was stamped 3 times so I could 3D the little bow.  I layered it with some little pieces of heavy CS instead of foam so it wouldn't jump out too much.  The banners are just some scraps I had on my work space.  I may add some little jewels in the 2 opposing corners but the jury is still out on that, I kind of like the simple look.  The inside of the card is the full panel that I reduced the opacity so I could write in it.  Not sure what it will be used for yet but you can bet it will be for something Springy.  I also used a Nuvo glue pen and added some glitter I also got in that first order called Prisma glitter.   Super, super fine and kind of transparent although it looks a little pink on the paper and shines iridescent.

So that was my Mojo Project this week, Stay Crafty and have a great Weekend.

Thanks for stopping by.

Loralei

Mojo443#2

I ordered some printed vellum paper made by Kanban and I have to say that they are the prettiest vellums I have ever seen.  They have this pearlescent sheen to them, I hope I captured even a fraction of it in the pictures.  I got a new camera for Christmas, it's a Canon EOS and is pretty fancy - takes good pictures....outside.  I spend my extra (Ha Ha) cash on papercrafting but will have to eventually find an economical way to make a light box.  I have seen a few examples on the web but need to do a little more research.  My manual talks about bounce lights and such but I won't even look at the price for those!  I'm getting really tired of not being able to capture my cards the way they look to the naked eye.  OK, life is too short to whine.  This is has some cheat elements on it......I took the round picture of the roses with it's frame on put it on here as the focal point.  It is from Kanban's Antique Florals kit.  Sorry, but I really like the artwork and pictures and want to use them.  I started out with Mojo Monday Sketch, but ended up with something a little different so there's a little me in it...same with the card, I may have started out with something but had to build something around it so it makes it...me.  I refuse to think of it as cheating as some would say.  My inspiration was the vellum and I went from there.  Everything is Kanban (paper) the butterflies are Bo bunny (the swallowtale, my favorite butterfly die) and Hero Arts.  I also used some Vintage Photo Distress Inks to do a little distressing and some Offray ribbon.  The frame is popped with some dimensional tape from Scotch.  there isn't any sentiment on it yet because I haven't decided what kind of card it is.....Birthday, Thinking of you, Sympathy, what have you.  I'm leaning more towards sympathy.  What do you think?

Here I used a flashlight to try to highlight the "sheen".

Here is a little closer up.

Thanks for stopping by,

Have a great week, see ya tomorrow for another sketch.

Mojo443

Here's my take on this weeks sketch...I must go downstairs and cook for my boys so I'll leave the recipe to your imagination.  If anyone is interested on what I used or how/what I did, leave a comment and I'll reply.  Have a great week and Thanks for stopping by.




Outside

Inside

Mojo442

This week's Mojo Monday card

I may have gone a little overboard here, but I like it.

I started with all Kanban papers from the Madison collection except for the gold, it is also Kanban but I just got it the other day.  It's called Gold Silk and it is gorgeous, not that it shows here but it has a more brushed look than the other foiled CS I have and not as brassy.  The stamp is a Teresa Collins set, the lacy butterfly is a Martha Stewart Punch, the two small are from a Hero Arts Stamp and Die set, the bling is from Hunkydory.  I used an embossing folder for the gold CS, it is from Cuttlebug designed by Anna Griffin. I put the inside together but left it out to get a pic, it's all Kanban.


Here's the inside

I'm not going to put up all the details on these cards...most of the stuff is from Hunkydory but it's a couple of my valentine's that I didn't get a picture of earlier.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Weekend!

Molly

Here is a card I've made for Molly's passing.  She was not a regular kind of personality, she had a unique sense of the world but she had a huge heart which served her well as a caregiver over the years.  I'm sure she is enjoying the freedom of breaking the bonds of the mortal world but she will be sorely missed by the many friends she left behind.  Spread your wings and fly Molly.

With Love,

Loralei

Mojo 441

Here is my Mojo 441 card

I ordered a thumb drive with papers and images and this is part of that.  It's called "A Pocket Full of Paper" from Craftwork Cards. The paper from the left is so pretty, flowers and butterflies.....my favorite.  The image in the circle is a coordinating image that I printed out and colored with my copic markers.  The paper on the right was embossed with an Anna Griffin folder from Cuttlebug.  The butterfly is a die from Bo Bunny.  I cut it out in black, traced around it on white, glued them together and colored it up with Copics.  The pearls are Nuvo Crystal Drops.  I've used Weathered Wood Distressing Inks around all the paper, very subtle and hard to see here.

I haven't decided what to put in the inside for a sentiment, thought I would wait until I decide who it goes to and for what.  Would make a beautiful Mother's Day card but my Mom is no longer with me.

Here is the inside, ready for something.

The Pink paper had roses and butterflies as border on both sides so I just flipped the colors.  I still have enough papers left over to stamp a sentiment and layer it up.

Happy crafting.  Thanks for stopping by.

mojo440

Here is my Mojo Monday 440 card.  I made a card for last week too but I never got around to posting it so I'm adding it below also.

I started out with some basic black CS from "The Paper Company".  Is this stuff getting lighter or what?  I guess that's what you get when crafting on a budget.  Anyway, after you layer it it gets heavier.....I matted with some mirri card in gold then a deep purple.  I got some gold foiled vellum with one of the Kanban Kits and I just love it and wanted to use some here since this card is for an old friend.  I had been going through a paper pad I got from Hunkydory and it had a sheet with this colorful butterfly and I really loved the colors so I decided from the beginning that it would be my focal point.  I used an Anna Griffin border embossing folder on the mirri card for the middle strip and matted with black and purple CS.  I did same with the two panels.  It is the design on the flip side of the butterfly.  It's pretty busy so a little goes a long way!  I added some glossy accents to the body of the butterfly, and some stickles to the wings which didn't show up in the photo so I guess I didn't go overboard.

My circles in the middle are not perfect as you can see, I have some spellbinder's circles, but I don't want a 1/4 mat so I have to cut them out by hand....the only perfect one is the mirri card (gold).  This prompted me to go buy a circle cutter today.  Thank God JoAnn's had a sale and I had a coupon for another 20% off the entire order including sale items.  It's not a perfect solution but I'll have to work on the technique for using one, totally botched the first one I tried to cut....it was only scrap paper so what the heck.  I would like to have some circle dies from Tattered Lace but a set runs about $40.  They run in 1/8 inch intervals and have about 15 dies so it's worth the price, just don't have the funds right now.



Here's the card for last week's sketch.....

The stamp is from Heartfelt Creations, colored in with Copics, the border die is from Creative Expressions, the Bow die is from Tattered Lace, the butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch, and paper from Heartfelt Creations Sunrise Lillies Pad.  I added some drops for pearls..they are from Tonic called Nuvo Crystal Drops.  I have had the best luck with these, I have tried the Liquid Pearls but always end up with what looks like Hereshey Kisses, and then got some stuff called "Perlin Pen" that ends up the same way just not as bad.  The Nuvo levels out very nicely and makes little round mounds like it's supposed to, I'm a happy camper and they come it a ton of colors.

Time to plan my next project, Thank for stopping by and taking a look.  Stay Crafty!

mojo438

I made this card for my grandson TJ, who is turning 7 this month.

He is a big Thomas fan so I paper pieced this Imaginesce stamp.  It's a little 3D too - I popped up the wheels just a little.  I've used paper from the "All Geared Up" paper pad from Heartfelt Creations, the sentiment is also from the pad.  The stars are cut out of Mirror card using some Momenta Dies that come with little embossing plates that fit inside the dies.  I snapped a picture of the inside before adding it so I don't have to fold the card the wrong way.

I just used my leftover paper....I planned ahead and cut the circle for the front out of the center of the stripy blue paper and covered it with the leftover red.  The tag is the same as on the front and I've used the little train stamp to put some background in.

Have a great week!  Thanks for stopping by.

Some other Birthday Cards

I've become addicted to using Card making kits.  This is because I have become addicted to watching Create and Craft shopping channel.  I watch mainly for the company.  I like to make cards, I find it relaxing.  I used to make cards with my kids on Valentine's day and Christmas and now that they are grown, they no longer wish to make cards.  In the past few years my second from oldest daughter used to come up but she has a new guy she can't seem to live without so now I craft alone.  It saves me time but I would really like to share my ideas and such, have a conversation or two and just have some fun.  I have a friend who likes to do the same but she works and lives about 30 miles away and we rarely see each other any more.  So, one day last spring I was running through the channel guide and stumbled on a program on the "Save" channel.  They run shows from (Mountain Time) 9 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon.  It's called Creat and Craft.  Like HSN only with craft stuff.  It comes to us from the UK.  They started a US show in January of last year.  They usually have a show host and a demonstrater.  They are getting more American hosts but I enjoy the UK hosts just as much.  The best part is that they sell stuff you can't get anywhere around here, and by here I mean Idaho.  I can't talk for the rest of the US, but getting Cardmaking and Scrapbooking supplies is getting to be slim pickin's anymore and the brands they showcase you can't get at all......well, I have seen some Tattered Lace on JoAnn's website but not near the variety as they have.  And cardstock.....I got 50, yes 50 sheets of mirrored cardstock for 15.00.  I had to hunt high and low for mirrored cardstock in JoAnn's and finely found 1 piece that cost me 1.99.  It was the last one.  Anyway.....now I can craft along with the show....I have gotten many pointers from the demos.  Since they have separated the studios (the US now has their own studio) the variety of products have gotten smaller, but I still see things we just don't get here.  Two of the Companies are Hunkydory and Kanban.  They make kits...I have seen some kits on HSN with Anna Griffin but these go waaay beyond.  I spend most of my time when I start a card trying to decide what cardstock to use and what colores etc.  And wouldn't you just know that when you find that perfect background paper to use, you don't have the solid cardstock to match.  I have spent HOURS trying to get my color scheme together and it's not like I don't have reams of paper stacked up around here (you can never have too much paper).  Well, when you get these cardmaking kits, they come with cardstock, paper, and they all go together.  I have reduced my time down in my cardmaking by a good 75%.  It's still handcrafted and it's up to you how you use what you get so it's not like paint-by-the-number.  I feel kind of guilty from time to time because it's not totally handmade, but I still do coloring, and stamping.  Oh well, confessions of a paper junkie.  Anyway, just saying that if you get frustrated like I do trying to find dies, cardstock, and ideas...try tuning in.  Or check out the website where you can watch online and shop.  it's
www.createandcraft.com.  Check out Kanban and Hunkydory and Tattered Lace and Heartfelt Creations.

Here are some cards I have made using this stuff.



Hunkydory, flowers are Heartfelt Creations and Tattered Lace

Inside.....sentiment from Kanban

Kanban "Belle Fleur"

Creative Expression Dies....Heartfelt Creations Stamps and Dies

Kanban, Anna Griffin Die, Tattered Lace dies.

Happy Crafting!

Valentines

Here are some of this year's Valentines



Experimenting with Acetate!  Punch outs from Kanban 's Belle Fleur kit and the acetate is from Hunkydory.

For the next two cards, I bought some Valentine's from the store and decouged them up since you get like 6 of the same kind.  This one has 3 layers.  My 16 year old son got a kick out of this one.

And this one is more of what they call Pyramage and it has 7 layers.  This one was for my 7 year old grandson.

Hunkydory Oriental set.

Some Kanban "Madison", some stamps and gilding flakes.

My oldest son says he doesn't want hearts and flowers and stuff.....Tattered Lace and Creative Expression Dies, Anna Griffin Embossing folders and Studio G Stamps.

Creative Expression die, glitter , Hero Arts stamps and dies for the butterflies and Hunkydory paper.

Mojo437

Here's my take on the Mojo sketch this week

Created from the Hunkydory Card set "Burtterflies in Flight".   It may be cheating but they have some of the prettiest stuff....and I have done all the matting and layering so I have worked some.  The little butterflies I cut out of the Butterflies book, rounded 2 corners and then matted them on some rosy colored mirror cardstock, then glued them down on a square of chocolate brown CS,  the round butterflies is a cardtopper from the set which I Matted on some more Chocolate brown CS.  In the back is a border die from Anna Griffin layered on some more mirror CS and then matted on the same brown CS as the rest (also the card base).  The flower I made with the Heartfelt creations Vintage Rose Set....stamps and dies that coordinate for making flowers.  The backgroud CS is Hunkydory and so is the ribbon.  The bling is from Studio G.

Here is the inside

This is the other half of the CS from the front.  Click on the picture to get the bigger view and you will see how the butterflies in the corner look like I fussy cut them and put them on but it's printed on the CS with shadows so it looks like they are 3D.  And this is good heavy CS.....#111.  I am really impressed with the quality of this product.

Guess that's all for now, got to get some other stuff posted.  I have not been a good blogger, I don't hardly post unless I submit to Mojo Monday but I think I will get some other stuff up that I have done.  Take a browse if you please, comments are nice but not necessary.