Aw, yes…he couldn’t be happier.  We are back and had a wonderful time.  The Wiggley World at Fiesta Texas is a must for those children that love the Wiggles.

This is Gareth and he played and rode the rides until he had exhausted both his Mother and NaNa (that’s pronounced nay, nay).

We could not have asked for any better weather for both days.  The second day we went to Sea World and I was so amazed by the training these animals have had and the fun that goes along with the stories and acts that they put on.

There will be more pictures to share but I wanted to get back in the routine and at least show you one of my pride and joys.  Gareth is almost 4 and he is the one who gave me my name (NaNa).  There is something special when the grandchild gives you the name he wants to call you.  Gareth is Rylan’s big brother.

Now I need to go trim hedges but I should be posting something new soon.  Thanks for looking and be sure and leave me a comment.

I know, I couldn’t resist… here is another peek into the card that somebody from the PW MB is going to receive.

The picture does not do it justice.  I know you will love this, because you will get to see first hand how lovely the MCPT (Magic Color Pencil Technique) is when used on stamped images.

Now I’m headed off to San Antonio to go with my #1 Daughter to take my DGS to Fiesta Texas (they have a Wiggle World there) and to Sea World.

I’ll try to post something by Friday, but don’t hold me to it I may be too tired.  Talk with you when I get back. 

Tags: Acetate, Card Swap

Here she is walking amongst the flower garden that my #1 Daughter made in her breakfast nook area for Rylan’s birthday.

Trying to get a “just right” picture was more than difficult and this was as close as I could get.  Still she was the guest of honor and enjoyed her day to the fullest.

If you haven’t had a chance to see the latest on Capadia Designs Video #5 on Welding in a Frame is excellent.  Here is the link http://capadiadesigns.blogspot.com/2009/05/by-george-i-think-ive-got-it.html.  I learn so much from her and if you have DS this will help you a great deal.

I know I was surprised that I found some time to post too, since I’m on a mini-vacation but I can’t seem to stay away.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure and leave me a comment, I love hearing from you.

Tags: Rylan

Another one of the Day-lilies blooming in my flowerbed.  I’m calling this one Dreamsicle.  I don’t think that is the name that came on the tag but it sure reminds me of that wonderful combination of flavors that remain one of my favorite.

The beauty that God gave us in His unique design of the flowers of the fields never cease to amaze me.  When I look on the flowers in my flowerbeds I’m instantly reminded of His grace.  Exceptional beauty given with all the glory for His beloved creation to enjoy.  I discoverd a long time ago, I didn’t have the vocabulary to express to Him how I truly feel .  That’s “When Words are not Enough”….

Unfortunately, I had a friend that lost her sister to cancer a couple of weeks ago.  The good news (if there can be any) she was ready to go and that in its self gives some comfort.  This is my sympathy card and expression of comfort to her for her loss.

I love the Cuddle Bug (CB) for embossing.  The white CS has been embossed using two folders; Perfectly Pasiley and Swiss Dots.  The Perfectly Pasiley was embossed a little more than 1/2 way down the white CS, then leave about a 2″ gap and emboss the lower part with Swiss Dots.

Tip:  You need to use two embossing folders that have random patterns.  This makes it easier to combine the different designs.

I used my Scor-Pal to score a couple of lines in the 2″ gap to give it a finished look.  The scalloped rectangles were done using Spellbinders scalloped rectangle nestibilites.  Added a dressed up pin and some flowers with a brad.  I used a Prang Brush Pen in gold to go around the scallops on the brown mat.

The handwriting is my own and I dressed it up with three pearls.

Tip: I lightly write what I want to say in pencil, erasing and re-writing until I get it the way I want it.  Then I take a micro – .05 pen and write over the final words.  Let them dry and use a white erase to get rid of the pencil lines.

I kept the inside simple.  The brown mat was embossed using the Swiss Dot Folder, the Pink was embossed using the Perfectly Paisely folder. 

The white mat was inked with Colorbox chalk ink in creamy brown.

Used the Enveloper to make the envelope and cut a small piece of bubble wrap to place over the flower and stick pin.

Tip:  I use pattern paper with white backs to make my envelopes.  I turn the pattern paper to the inside so when the envelope is opened they see the pattern.  Since it has a white back, it makes it perfect to write the address on.

To get a closer look just click on the picture.  Thank you for stopping by and please be sure and leave me a comment.  I enjoy hearing from you.

Tags: Sympathy

Ok, I’m going to be gone from Tuesday through Thursday, so I’m not going to be posting.  However, I’m feeling a little mischievous and thought I would give you a peek at the card I have finished for the PW first Card Swap.

The theme is “anything goes” and Fab from England is spearheading this event.  I can’t wait to get mine in the mail to “my buddy” (whoever I get in the random pick).

So, I hope this gets you motivated to get your card done or better yet if you haven’t joined you still have time to join.  Go to www.paperwishes.com/messageboard and scroll down to the June Card Swap thread.  All the information is there and even a thread for questions if you have them.

Thanks for looking and be sure to leave me a comment.  I love hearing from you.

Tags: Acetate, Card Swap

There is something about your 1st Birthday.  Unfortunately, most of us don’t remember it, but oh what fun the adults have while watching them tear into that Birthday Cake or smearing that ice cream.  Yummo! Sugar!  I can tell you that once the cup cake hit her mouth she did not remove it until it was almost all gone.

This is Rylan and May 21, 2009 she turned 1 year old.  This is a beautiful child with her Father’s eyes except for the color.  The piercing blue is from her Mother.  She has a very sweet disposition and she is a tremendously happy baby and she is learning how to dance.

Of course a 1st Birthday, requires a special card and I thought this little dress with a pinafore was perfect for her.  There are two charms, one is an angel and the other is number 1.

The petticoat is the MS border punch and the pinafore is CB embossed using the Perfectly Paisley folder.  The collar is made with Spellbinders Scalloped Hearts with a Raindrop heart to accent it.  Everything is inked.

The die cut heart was cut then embossed and a little paper piercing was added to the edges.  To get a closer look just click on the picture.  The paper piercing on the collar can best be seen on the previous picture of the front of the card.

This card was very simple and easy to put together and perfect for a little girl.

I covered the dress on the inside in simple white; however, the card could lend itself to a lot of variations and “dressing up”.

Thanks for stopping by and let me know what you think of Rylan and her 1st Birthday card. 

Tags: Rylan

The DayLillies in my flowerbeds are beginning to bloom.  Even after all the rain, it looks like I’m not going to loose anything.  Whew!!!!!

I love gardening, there is something about getting out and playing in the dirt that I love.  I also love the results of the hard work when they bloom.

I found a new Crochet magazine (I’m always looking for my Mother) and in it was a pin cushion.  I asked Mom if she would make it for me and before I knew it she whipped it out.

I have these decorative pins I purchased from JoAnn’s and bought me a stuff animal to keep them on display.

My girls always thought it was odd to stick pins in a stuffed animal, but I was trying to find something cute to display my pins and be functional (decorative).

I removed the pins from “Duckie” and put them in my new crocheted pin cushion.  The pin cusion does a very nice job and actually gives me more room to see what I have.

Duckie, says “thank you” now would you please pass the Tylenol!

Thanks Mom, for another outstanding piece of work.  Hmmm, I need to see if there is something else I want out of that magazine.

Tags: Mother

So here we are with the outside completed.  If your petals are sticking out and up more than you want,  just add a few glue dots to hold the petals down and in place.

The second olive green mat with the oval is for the inside of the card.  You’ll need to cut it down to 4.75″.  Using the Cuttlebug and the Happy Birthday folder emboss the mat and set it aside after the edges have been inked.

Tip:  This mat will be bigger than the A2 folder.  I matched the A2 folder to the side that didn’t get embossed and held it in place with repositionable tape, ran just that side through the CB.  I should have taken a picture of that step but didn’t think about it at the time.  Just be very observant on where the A2 folder ends on the mat and line it up when you go to emboss the rest of the mat.

Here is the inside mat after it has been embossed. 

There is a website called Wordle.net.  This website is free and it lets you create “Beautiful Word Clouds”.  If you want a word to show up larger than the rest of the words (i.e. Amber), you enter that word in your list more than one time.

So I put in a list of words that I felt described her.  Once the “cloud” is made, you can use their format  options to change colors and fonts and how the words appear in the cloud.

Once I got it to where it complimented the colors of the card I printed it off on colored cs. I moved the oval around the ”word cloud” until I found the best postion that captured the words I wanted diplayed and cut it down to fit the mat.  I stitched the finished mat to the inside of the card. 

Tip:  It would have been better to stitch the mat to another mat and then apply to the inside of the card, that way your stitching would not show on the back.  Since, I didn’t think of that before hand, I glued a mustard mat (5″ x 5″) to the back of the card and covered up the stitching.  This may seem like it would make the card heavy but it actually helped support the bulkiness of the flower.

Added a small bow so I could tuck  a couple of bead encrusted pens to finish off the inside.

Tip:  Because I couldn’t get all the words I used in the “word cloud”  inside the oval, I printed them off on vellum and glued them to the left side of the card.  That way when she opened it up she could see all the words that was used to describe her.

I created an envelope using Paper Wishes Pastel Vellum Papers.  I used the pastel orange and then wrote her name and embellished it with a cute bubble bee and some rain dots.

The vellum envelope allows you to see the Sunflower and mutes the colors. 

Wow, this is a long tutorial for one card.  I have learned that the more detail you do to a card the more instructions it requires.  I’m sure I missed something or accidently left something out.  So if you try to make this card and have a question, please be sure and let me know if I’ve left something out or it is not clear.  I’ll be more than happy to update anything I left out or need to make clearer.

Thanks again for stopping by and let me know what you think.  I hope I showed you something new or provided you a tip that makes it a little easier.

Tags: Daughters, Sunflower

Hi everyone!  I apologize for the delay in the continuation of this card, I had several things come up that I had to take care of and by the end of the day I was too tired to add to this tutorial.

I also updated the first post, you will need to cut 24 to 25 petals not 12.   I also updated the information to reflect that all edges, on all pieces have been inked using Creamy Brown and added ribbon, pin, and brown CS information.

Let’s pick up where we left off.  This picture shows one row of leaves with the stems cut off to form the petals and one row of leaves with the stems still on.  Take a close look at the petals; the top of the petals are turned slightly to the right and on the bottom row the top of the leaves are turned slightly to the left.  This is important as you start to layer the petals that some go to the left and some go to the right.

The petals are colored using the MCPT technique, there are two groups of leaves #1 group and #2 group, and using the colors of Prisma Pencils indicated in post 1 of 3.  I followed the basic yellow in the center, darker color to the left of the petal and lighter color to the right.

I also used some perfect medium on several of the petals.

Tip:  You could take 12 of the petals and use as the base, then take 6 and dry emboss them and 4 heat embossed and 2 using perfect medium.  This would give you a different look entirely.

Here is what the Jeweled Gold heat Embossed petals look like.  There are actually 4 petals that I did this way.  I colored them along with the other petals and then heat embossed over the petal.  This adds depth and color variations to the petals.

Using a smooth pencil (the Prisma Color Pencils work well), roll the ends of the petals to make a curve.  Some petals will need a little roll and others will need a deeper roll.  I initially rolled them all the same and then as I started assemblying them rolled the petals more as I needed them.

Start layering the petals from the front wrapping the curved ends into the inside of the front of the card.  I used repositional glue until I got the first three or four started.  As I like how they looked I went back and attached them with permanent glue.  Don’t be surprised if you get something the way you like it and then need to add a petal to the layer beneath.  Just keep arranging and layering until you go completely around the oval cut out.

Once they were all attached I cut an oval 3.09″W x 3.693″ H,  heat embossed in with Marcasite and then glued it to the back of the front of the card to cover the petals and create the center of the Sunflower.

With the center in place I took the 3-D Scribble Paint and started filling the outer part of the center of the Sunflower with dots. 

Tip:  Start with the dark color first and then work your way up to the lighter color.  It takes less of the lighter colors to make an impact so don’t over saturate the light colors.

I added the mustard mat (5″x5″) to cover up the center on the inside of the card.  If I had planned a little better I could have probably eliminated a layer by incorporating the center with the mat, but at this point it was too late.

I’m going to stop here and we’ll finish up the tutorial with what I did to the inside of the card.  Thanks for looking and don’t forget you can click on the pictures to get a closer look.  Thanks for stopping by and be sure and leave me a comment, I enjoy hearing from you.

Tags: Daughters, Sunflower