Nesties Tip!!!

I don't know if this will help anyone or not,,,,,,or if everyone has figured this out long before me,,,,,

but on the chance that someone else is frustrated beyond belief getting their spellbinders out of the really intricate cuts,,,,,,,I solved this problem.

I love love the pendants and motifs,,but getting the dies out without tearing was causing ME to tear my hair out,,,,,,I ordered the Holly motifs a few days ago, praying they were not tough to get out of the die,,,,,,,

my prayers were not answered. PAIN IN THE NECK.

and I got desperate!

Here's how I solved my problem,,,,,,,

sandwich:

cutting plate
paper
WAX paper
die, cutting side down
cutting plate


send it through,,,,,,,,,turn 90 degrees and/or shim with some card stock and give it another good cut. turn the die over and emboss,,,,,,,


your die will slip out much more easily. I'm not saying you don't have to be careful,,,,,,,but it will be out quickly and much more easily than without wax paper,,,,,,

Hope I helped someone else!!!!!!!! Thanks for reading!

Lazy Saturday!

Good afternoon blogging friends! Today has been such a LAZY day,,,,,,I've been playing with new dies all day and DH has been farming his little farm (farmville) all day,,,,,,,even the dog is lazy as sin today LOL.

BUT at least I have something to show you for it! Today I have TWO cards! (Insert silly dancing banana here!)

I think the first card is my favorite,,,,,,,love the colors of this Prima Madeline paper! to.die.for. Aren't the raspberries and blues so deep and elegant? happy sigh.

I used a ton of spellbinders layers on this card,,,,,,,from the bottom layer up, spellbinders fleur di lis in a hot raspberry mirror card and then TWO layers of Holly motifs, turned at different angles,,,,,,then a smaller motif from that same set,,,,,,,,and then a simple circles large was used to cut out the focal image from this amazing paper.

Frankly, I didn't want to add too much more to the card, all those layers look overdone if I add too much more,,,,so I stuck with a simple double bow in green.

here's a close up look at the layers! Close up you can see the holly of the holly motifs, but when it's all layered, it's much more hidden,,,,,,and I think it's so gorgeous, I just CAN NOT put it away only for Christmas cards!

My second card for the day is similar (can you tell I'm practicing with what layers look good with which diecuts???)

As you can see, this is a much "quieter" card,,,,,,,,light blues, whites and creams, with a bit of sepia for distinction between layers. I used Prima Botanicals on this one. Another gorgeous stack!

from the bottom up,,,,,,,,postage stamps with the center cut out with lacy squares, Nellie Snellen multi frame die round, lily (the two largest dies) , circles large, and finally eyelet pendants for the top piece.

I stamped several of the layers with a stampendous music note background stamp, inked them all in sepia, some lace, a triple butterfly bow and a sentiment, and she's done!

Here's a close up of the layers on this one,,,,,,,

I hope you're having a lovely LAZY holiday weekend! See you next year! And thanks for looking!

STRESSSSSSSSSSS!

Ever have one of THOSE days? Yeah, having one today! I'm still shaking my head,,,,,,Darling son went to work in his car today,,,,,,20 minutes later, he calls because his car broke down. OK, glad Darling husband has the day off,,,,,,,,,so I send DH after DS. Twenty minutes later phone call. DARLING HUSBAND is broken down in MY minivan in the SAME BLEEPING SPOT DS broke down in,,,,,,

seriously,,,,,,,,,this kind of thing just HAPPENS to me GAAH!

Fortunately, none of it is serious or THAT expensive,,,,but SERIOUSLY?? THE SAME DAY? THE SAME LOCATION? AND I do not have a key to husband's car (stupiddddddddd) so he has to take a taxi home. ARe we laughing yet?????? I know I am!


So, of course, I just HAD to make a card with my NEWWWW prima paper. Nothing like a new paper stress buster!

I used Prima Madeline paper and OMG it's drool worthy. I covered the base with this gorgeous rose paper, made a second layer of this beautiful dark pink color,border  punching the bottom and cutting through the center with labels 18 to make a window so that the first layer shows through. I took a third paper, and layered floral doily motifs (center cut out with smaller motif) and layered postage stamps over that (center cut out with standard squares large),,,,,,,and my focal point was ready,,,,,

for the spiral  flower I hand cut freehand, inked, glittered and shaped with a bone folder. I added a HUGE pearl to the center. Leaf is a prima leaf, stick pin is a simple one of mine that I hand made. I tied a simple triple bow with sheer pink ribbon, added a few sticky pearls and called her finished.

Here's a close up of the focal point:

I really love it. No idea what I'm going to do with it,,,,but I think it's pretty :) That paper is just stunning,,,,,,,,,,nothing like starting out with gorgeous paper to make a pretty card!

Thanks for looking and hope you enjoyed! Have a happy and safe new year if I'm not back before next year! Hopefully the challenges will be up and going after the holiday again, and I'll have some more cards to show you!

Dancing Dress!

Good afternoon! I've had a lovely Thursday doing pretty much nothing except card making, and I wanted to share one with you now.

My youngest daughter will be 20 next week, and she asked for a "beautiful card". I hope this qualifies! I wanted something representative of how much she's grown, what a lovely young lady she's become and how proud I am of her!

The image is called "Dancing Dress" by Tiffany's Doodles. It's so lovely and looks so flowing, I couldn't resist the stamp!

Here's a close up of it!

I printed the image on white card stock, colored it in copics and then fussy cut the dress. I popped it up on pop dots and layered it on my brand new Nellie Snellin "Round Lily" die, using the two largest dies to create this intricate circle that adorns the front of this Z fold card. The paper is DCWV "Preppy Princess" stack. The medallion on the inside of the card is cut with a nesties round large out of the preppy princess papers, popped up on pop dots. Front and inside are both dressed up  with pearls. A shiny silver bow (I think pink and silver is so HANNAH!) a sentiment (also cut with Nellie Snellin dies) and it's all ready for Hannah's birthday.

Hannah Rachel, I love you,,,,,,,,,,You've grown up to be a woman any mother would be proud to call her own. Happy Birthday, Baby, Love Mom.

Thanks for looking and I hope you return!

Two posts in one day!

Well, I had PLANNED on only doing one card today,,,,,,,,,but PAMELA over at Freevintagedigistamps.com (button of pointing finger to the right over there) just HAS TO keep posting the most AMAZING free vintage images and FORCING me to make more than one card today.

Yeah, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

I just totally fell in LOVE with this image over at Freevintagedigistamps.com and I HAD TO make this card,,,,,,

paper is again K and Co scraps, lace I bought on EBAY and the 1/4 inch velvet trim I got at Michael's 70% off the other day. I colored the image with copics and antiqued it and all the paper pieces with Archival sepia ink. I then cut the image with scalloped ovals large and layered that onto labels 18, which seems to be one of my new favorites. Button is from my stash of look-alike vintage El-Cheapo brand. The sentiment is Fiskars clear stamps. It's a pretty simple card, and I kept it that way,,,,,i wanted the image and the paper to really shine.

Thanks for looking,,,,,,maybe now I can go do some housework LOL.

Happy New Year!!!!

My goodness, the week has gotten away from me! What with holiday celebrations, parties, gift wrapping and baking, I hardly know where the week went!

I hope you had a lovely wee with family and loved ones,,,,I know I did, and Santa was very good to me!

But, I'm finally back after taking the week to spend with my family,,,,,and then cleaning up our holiday mess~! And today, I have a card. This was such a sweet image from I DO NOT KNOW WHERE! I save a TON of vintage images for later use,,,,and I almost ALWAYS save them in a file marked with the poster's site,,,,,,,OR the name of the poster in the file name.

This time I did NOT. Not smart. (Kicking self!)

I searched my favorite sites, and found NOTHING. If you KNOW where I found this image, please let me know so I can give proper credit!

The paper I used for this card is a mixture of scraps,,,K and Company Cut N Paste predominate, but I do see some of my favorite MME Lost and Found paper here too! I cut the image and framed it with Labels 18, backed with TWO lacy ovals, a sweet ribbon, some pearls, some Michael's brand yellow ribbon, a computer generated sentiment and she's done!

Easy peasy, and NO copics!

I hope you have a lovely New Years, and PLEASE be safe! Thanks for looking, and I always appreciate your comments!

So I screwed up,,,,,,,

Yep,,,big time. The birthday file I made a year or so ago that I thought was brilliant,,,,,,,,

isn't so brilliant if I misfile someone's birthday. Sigh.

Yep,,,,,filed a dear friend under December instead of November. I realized what had happened when I went digging for late December birthdays to make cards for. And found hers. Oh boy.

What's a girl to do???? Except maybe make the prettiest card she can and admit she's a dunce LOL.

So here you have it,,,,,,,yet again, some pretty MME paper (even when I TRY, I can't seem to stay away from it!), a nestie, a "sorry I missed your birthday" stamp. And three of the prettiest flowers I think I've ever made.

I've been playing around with rolled roses for a week or so, trying to get a specific look. And I think I finally got it. I've been asked twice already how to make them (it's so simple, it's ridiculous), so I'll see if I can't get a pictorial up here in the next few days. I wanted Spellbinders "spiral blossoms one", but at least until AFTER the holiday, anything that's 24 bucks is just going to have to wait. And I'm pretty happy with the way these turned out actually. Not sure I even want to spend 24 bucks for that flower now,,,,,,,,not when there's so many other dies I want,,,,,,,hm,,,,,,,

will have to think about that one LOL. Oh, and by the way,,,,,,,those leaves are really my poinsettia die,,,,cut in half LOL. I can't even leave the thing alone for birthday cards!

Hope you enjoyed the post,,,,,,,,,again, have a LOVELY Christmas, Hanukkah or whatever it is that you celebrate! And thanks for looking!