This is a card that I made for a friend in the hospital.  This card could easily be adapted for various occasions.  It started out with a stamp I found on sale. The stamp itself is just 1/2 of the flower designed.  I stamped it twice to get a full sunflower.  This is extremely easy when you are using clear stamps.

Here is a list of items I used:

CS – Stampin Up – Pattern Paper K&C Company – Amy Butler
Sunflower & Leaves – Perfectly clear stamps (Stampendous) - HL
Coloring – MCPT
Embossing – Stamp-N-Stuff (Stampendous) Jeweled Gold Transparent, leaf – Ranger super fine detail clear
Dots around the center of the flower – Stickles (black, distressed red), acrylic paint - burnt umber, lemonade  3D Paint – chocolate, gold, lemonade, copper
Butterfly – Studio 18
Stitching – gold metallic thread
CB – with love border and spell binders impressibilities
Foam squares to lift the sunflower for some additional dimension.

To get a closer look just click on the picture.

Thanks for looking and be sure and leave me a comment.

Tags: Sunflower

Ok, I admit it!  I’m a wimp when it comes to ribbon.  Maybe it’s the little girl in me.  All I know is that I love ribbon, all kinds of ribbon.

I’ve tried several ways of keeping ribbon.  I bought the ribbon box from the craft store, you know the one where you put the spools in and pull a little ribbon through a slot.  I didn’t care for that because the perfectionist in me wanted the spools to fit exactly in those little slots.  Since ribbon comes in different sizes what do I do with the larger spools.

I then took a dowel rod and ran it through the spools and hung it up so all I had to do is pull the ribbon off the spools.   Hmmm, didn’t care for that either because I needed all the colors to be together (yellows, reds, oranges).  Every time I bought a new spool (which by the way is often), I had to disassemble the rod so I could get the color where it belonged.  Also, all spools are not created equal. Some spools have large holes and some had small spools.

Next up, was wrapping them around the embroidery thread holders and putting them on a ring.  You guessed it, I didn’t care for that because, they didn’t hold much and honestly, I didn’t like the way it looked.

I saw an article in a magazine and also on the Internet that showed someone using doll pins and wrapping the ribbon around them.  Then they placed them in a jar so they could see them and used them to decorate their space.  I loved this idea!  It took care of the bulky spools, it made them look similar and you could see the beautiful ribbon.

Unfortunately, with all the ribbon I had it would take a lot of jars to hold all the ribbon.  So, I opted  to put it in a large glass bowl.  Again, it was beautiful to look at, but I had to dig through the entire bowl to find the ribbon I wanted.

My youngest daughter, Amber, had a beautiful 3 tier wire basket stand that she found at Smith and Hawkins.  I thought, that would be perfect.  I would be able to see the ribbon, put the colors together and if I wanted I could even pull the ribbon through the holes.  Well, I found a similar one at HL for $39.99 and had a 40% coupon (sweet)!

I know that we are all different and it is a matter of preference, but this has worked beautifully for me.  I love looking up from my workstation and seeing the ribbon.  This large 3 basket wire stand also has a lot of room for me to add more ribbon.  So that means I need to leave you now because I know there is a color of ribbon out there that is calling my name saying “Come buy me”!

Tags: Organization, Ribbon

Here are a couple of ways that I save and recycle at the same time.

Tip #1

The plastic containers and wrap  from around various items that you buy can be recycled and used for acetate.

Cut it a part and then cut out the flat center part of the packaging.  This is what I used to cut out the acetate bubbles on my “May Your Day Bubble Over” post (http://www.talentisoptional.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=132)

Tip #2:

Use the cardboard boxes that cereal, cookies and frozen dinners come in as chipboard.  You can alter this chipboard the same as the kind you buy at the craft store.  I’m thinking why pay for chipboard twice?

You’ll be surprised how much acetate and chipboard you can collect when you cut it down and recycle it.

Tags: Acetate, Chipboard

Back when my DH and I were young (in our late 20′s and early 30′s) we attended church with an awesome group of people.  There was a bond that was formed in our Sunday School Class, Worship, Prayer Meetings on Sunday and Sunday Nights, Choir Practices, and Wednesday Night Services that formed that “Circle that cannot be Broken”.

We got together this past weekend and picked up right where we left off.  Oh we may be older (a little more gray and a little heavier) but it was just like we had seen each other the Wednesday before. 

Love this group of people and I think we all realized that we had something special in our lives that would probably not be able to be re-created.  We are now scattered across the metroplex in various churches still carrying on the things we were taught by our beloved Pastor V. E. Tipton.  How greatly he impacted our lives for the glory of God.

Tags: SSA Reunion

Diane at Capadia Designs has an excellent video on her blog giving a tutorial on how to weld.  In the video she also gives a couple of excellent tips on the use of DS (Design Studio).  Diane’s link is on my sidebar under “Blog Roll”. So, check her blogspot out and watch her video.

Tags: Cricut

Recently, I outgrew the office, in our home, that my DH and I was sharing.  I originally thought I would do a “While You Were Out” when he left for a little trip to the ’09 Masters Par 3 and Practice Round.  He seems to handle the change better if He is gone and just comes back and it is done. 

I research various styles, colors and organizational references for scrapbooking and crafting from magazines, books and the Internet.  I bought a Canvas Home Basics Room Spacing Kit – Office/Studio (they have these at Joann’s).  From that point I started drawing the floor plan and pulling together a sample board.  This process is very helpful and enables you to visualize what it will look like together.

I decided I couldn’t wait and started the overhaul of a bedroom/exercise room and now my Woman Cave before He left.  It took me three weeks to get it done.  I put together twenty something jetmax cubes…whew!  Everything you see I did, from painting the baseboards and window sill to making the roman shades,  recovering the chair,  and painting the trestles that hold up the glass top work area. 

I got the Jetmax cubes from M’s at 40% off and the work station is a silk screen tempered glass top from Ikea.  The trestles were also from Ikea but only came in birch so I painted them white.  Found a large rug ( thank you Wal-Mart) for under the work area to catch anything I might drop on the white carpet (I know, don’t go there) and the magazine racks and bulletin board  are from the Container Store (again on sale).  Bought a couple of Melamine tops (Home Depot about $18/ea.)  for the cubes which gives a smooth top and makes a great desk (velcro to secure in place) .  The shelves that hold the stamps are from Ikea.  The carousels for the color pencils and keeping things handy I found at TJ Max.

Thanks for looking and don’t forget to leave me a comment.

Paper Wishes launched their new message board and had a random drawing for those who registered and logged on during a certain time period.

I was one of those lucky winners and I received the prize box today.  Check it out it is their new Cards & More with Dazzles book  and 16 packages of the Dazzles (8 silver, 8 gold) that goes along with the book.

I have always enjoyed Paper Wishes website, webisodes and supplies.  Thanks Paper Wishes what a great MB and a great prize.  I can’t wait to make some of the cards.

I’m one lucky lady today!

This card was designed for what is known as a MCPT (magic color pencil technique) Challenge on the Cricut Message Board (CMB) .  You can go onto YouTube and key in MCPT and see several videos of how to do this technique.  I borrowed the acetate circles for bubbles from a friend of mine whose name is Sonshine on the Paperwishes Message Board (PWMB).  Thanks Sonshine, I think your creativity made this design awesome!

So let’s get started:

Changito Monkey stamp

Card Size = 5-1/2 x 5

Card Stock (CS) = Stampin-Up Rich Regal - Yellow; Green; Pink; Black; White

Adhesive =  Pro Glide Permanent tape; E6000; Art Glitter Adhesive.  (Tip -you need a glue that will adhere acetate to card stock.  I used E6000 to begin with but discovered Art Glitter Adhesive worked great. (www.artglitter.com).

Ink = ColorBox Fluid Chalk Ink – Olive Pastel

Paper = Pattern Paper Making Memories – Garden Party; Vellum – white.

Paperwishes – Easy Stitches Template #HotP7328

Embellishments = Rain Dots – Cloud 9; Acetate – recyled from various packages; Stampendous – Blue Ultrafine glitter; Stickles – Star Dust; Ranger – Glossy Accents; Sakura Pen – Clear Star;  Flowers- rub ons; Jewels – $1 bin M’s; Circut E with George Cart and Mini Monograms using Design Studio.

MCPT Coloring = Prisma color pencils and odorless mineral spirits.

I used the Circut E and Design Studio to make a cut file for the bubblewand, jar of bubbles, frame of rings (inside the card), scalloped medallions and the acetate circles.  The following are the dimensions:

George Cart.:  

Bubblewand (Pink CS)-  4 circles: 1@ 2.164″ and 1@ 1.8″  placed inside the 2.164″ circle. Next  1@ 1.62″ and 1@1.3 placed inside the 1.62″ circle. This creates the cut outs for the bubblewand. Weld them to a rectangle that measures .37″ w x 1.785 h.  Cut the bubblewand three times.  Once glued together (with the vellum and acetate) this will make what is called a “shaker”.

Acetate:  Bubblewand – Cut 1 circle at 2.164″ and 2 circles at 1.62″.  Various sizes of acetate circles – 3.65″, 1.912″; 1.612″; 1.497″; .987.  (Tip) I used the multiple cut (4)  feature on the Cricut and set the depth to 6 using the regular housing, speed set at low, pressure high.  Use a very tacky mat.

Vellum-cut circle that measures 2.164″ around the words “May your day bubble over with fun”.

Jar of Bubbles (Green CS) – 1 rounded rectangle at 1.393w x 1″h welded to 1 rounded rectangle at 1.897w x 3.788h welded together.

Frame Rings for inside of card (Pink CS)- 1 circle @ 3.65″ with 1 circle @ 3.25 placed inside the 3.65″ ring to create the frame.

Mini-Monogram Cart:

Scallops : 2 @4.45″ (1 from Pattern Paper adhered to 1 cut out of white CS)  and 1 at 4.85″ (Green CS).

Computer:

Generate words “Bubbles” and “Let’s go Play!” in Rave (free font) on blue  CS. ” May your day bubble over with fun” is a stamp that I scanned into the computer then printed out on vellum.  You could also hand write it and get the same affect.  (Tip – practice in pencil, then once you have it like you want it go over it with black ink.  Let the ink dry and erase the pencil with a white eraser).

General Instructions:

• Make the card out of yellow card stock and ink the edges.  Cut pattern paper to 2″ x 51/4″ adhere to card stock. Ink bottle and adhere it over the pattern paper.  Print the words Bubbles and Let’s go Play! on blue CS and cut “Bubbles” at 1-15/16″ x 1-1/2″ ink edges and adhere to card.  Cut “Let’s go Play” at 1-15/16″ x 1-7/8″ ink and adhere to card.  I used Paperwishes stitch template to  draw stitches around the labels and to make the ridges on the cap.  Take a small strip of black card stock (CS) and adhere to the bottle at the base of the lid.
• Bubblewand: Take cut (#1) of the bubblewand and adhere the vellum on the back of the end with the large circle .  Adhere a small circle of acetate on the back of the small end of bubblewand (#1).   Take cut (#2) of the bubblewand and adhere it to the front of bubblewand #1.  Take cut (#3) of the bubblewand and adhere acetate to both large and small circle on the back of  bubblewand cut (#3).
• Glue bubblewand #3 to bubblewand #1/#2 all the way around except for a small gap on each end (see photo). 
• 
• Make a small funnel out of paper and slipped it in the gaps so you can put glitter into the shaker.  (Tip - Be careful here and don’t put too much glitter; less is more).  What you are seeing is the funnels in between the layers (#1/#2 and #3) of the bubblewand cuts.  Let the glue dry before you add the glitter.
•  
• Once the glitter is in, seal the gaps so the glitter does not leak out.  I used a tooth pick to finish gluing the gaps.
• Place the bubblewand on the front of the card and place three of the various sizes of acetate circles on the front of the card using glue dots.  (Tip – you can sand the acteate to make it have a scuffed look also.) I then used stickles to cover the glue dots on the acetate circles and scattered rain dots around the card.
• Color the stamp image and use glossy accents on the large bubble and rain dots on the other bubbles.  Add Stickles with a little of the blue glitter to the large bubble after it dries. Placed flower rub-ons and doddled the birds and butterfly.  I added the jewel to the girl monkey’s navel and added additional eyelashes.
• Ink the scolloped medallions and adhered to the card.  Ink the edges of the two ring frames and adhered large acetate circle to the smaller ring frame and then adhered the small ring frame to the larger ring frame.  Adhered over the stamped image.
• Take the Sakura Pen – Clear Star and outline the various elements on the front and inside of the card.

If you don’t have Circut E or Design Studio you can use punches, die cuts and even a real bubblewand to achieve the same affects. 

Enjoy and remember:  The content of my blog is COPYRIGHT © Sherri Benson. Original work is shared for your personal inspiration and enjoyment only and may not be used for publication, submissions, or design contests. Please do not represent my work as your own or use it to make items for sale. Please do not make copies of the lessons I share they need to visit my website to obtain these items directly.

Tags: Acetate, Bubble Wand

Back to my bubble wand, now that my garden is in place. I’ll be posting the final results of where the bubble wand is residing sometime today. Have you ever made a card and looked at it and said, hmmm something is missing! That is where I am on this card. But, I know if I walk away my subconcious will figure it out. So off to take a shower and see what getting my head wet will come up with.

Stay tuned….