Hi everyone!  I wanted to let you kow I haven’t stopped posting.  My Mother had some plumbing issues and now that we have that taken care of I’m in the process of laying a new floor and some additional repair work. 

I also got told today that my hours are cut back.  Instead of working 5 days a week, I’ll be working 1 day a week.  That’s fine with me.  Lucky for them, I’m very flexible and that is what a new company needs is flexibility from their employees or should I say employee.  This is a new company a friend of mine is trying to get up off the ground.  I have the licenses he needs but he also needs me to be willing to work when I can and not work if there is nothing to do.  I can handle that right now.

So, I’ll start having more time to post and do some other cards and crafts.  Right after I finish my Mother’s bathroom.  So stay with me the next few weeks and I’ll try to post once or twice a week.  Then when I get Mom’s bathroom finish, I’ll go back to everyday.

Thanks again for your understanding.

Can’t help myself!  This is black card stock on one side and color card stock on the other side. If you emboss it and sand it the color will show through the black or vice-versa.

Found it at HL this week ($9.99) and with a 40% coupon off even sweeter deal.  You can’t always find this stuff so you have to get it while you can.

Now I just need to come up with something to use it on or with.

Sorry, don’t mean to enable……..oh wait, yes I do….come on and join in on the fun!

Here it is, my Mother’s 81st Birthday card and German Glass ornament.  As I’ve said before my Mother’s favorite color is blue.  So I concentrated on making sure there was plenty of it.

Melinda Ford over at “All Things Crafty & Delicious” you can check her site out by clicking on this link was the inspiration for Mom’s card.  She does some amazing stuff so be sure and hop on over.  Thanks Melinda for your inspiration.

I started with a simple white card and used a MS punch and CB Swiss Dot Embossing folder to give the card some texture.  I lightly inked the edges with blue and ran the “ink daubber” over the Swiss dots.

I cut out 1″ squares and used the CB and various embossing folders to give each square a different texture.  I used a blue card stock with a white core and sanded it to bring the embossing to life.  By the way there is a birthday cake with candles in the middle square, perfect!

I edged the squares with fine Silver German Glass and then put them up on pop-squares to add another dimension to the card.

Some very simple sheer ribbon and a couple of decked out pearl pins with a Love charm to finish it off.

I used Storybook cart and cut out the bracket and ran it through the CB using the Script embossing folder for the inside of the card.  You’ll see that I did the same thing to the inside of the card with the Swiss Dot folder again and the inking.

I didn’t sand this down but you could.

I used the Lyrical cart for the Happy B-Day and used the Cricut gel pens to write it on the bracket rather than cut it out.  I also rotated the bracket so it would be horizontal and inked the edges.

I like the gel pens because they are a finer tip (just like the regular gel pens) and if you click on the picture you can see the gel pen and the housing that fits into your Cricut.  Here is the link for the post where I talk about these pens and where to get them.

I dressed it up a bit by filling in the word using the gel pen and a Sakura Star Gel pen along with a little doodling.  I edge it in the fine Silver German Glass to add another dimension and to compliment the front of the front of the card.

I think it turned out beautiful and I know Mom is going to love it.  Unfortunately, we are having plumbing problems at Mom’s house.  So on her B-day with a lot of help from a couple of my BBF’s (Phyllis and Joel), we are going to work on a huge issue and start a little upgrade to her bathroom.

It’s not often you meet people that go out of their way to help.  I know God has allowed my path to cross theirs so I would know how it feels to have true friends.  I’m going to owe them in a big way and they are surely going to be rewarded greatly for their servant attitude.  Thanks Phyllis and Joel for all you do and help me with!!!!!!!!

Thanks for looking and let me know what you think of both the German Glass ornament and Mom’s card!

Tags: Mother

This weeks Paper Cutz Challenge was a Christmas layout, project or card.  Tomorrow is my Mother’s 81st Birthday and I took this challenge to make her a Christmas Ornament.

This is the snowflake from the Provo Craft Cricut Christmas cartridge cut at 4″.

First I cut 2 snowflakes out of white chipboard.  This white chipboard is actually the backing to a paper pack that I tore apart.  I tried using chipboard that I recycled from a cereal box but I was not having any luck. It has rained so much here and the humidity is so high that the cereal box chipboard felt damp and would not cut correctly.

I also cut two snowflakes out of blue colored cardstock.  I used pale blue coarse German glass.  You can click on the picture and enlarge it to see the beautiful color of the German glass. 

TIP:  Make sure the color background of your item is close to the same color of your glitter or German Glass.  When you do this, if you miss a place it is not as obvious as it would be if the white was showing through.  Once all the snowflakes were glued together I used the Basic Grey files to get in between the cut out areas and file away any burrs and define the detail of the snowflake.

I ran both the two white chipboard snowflakes and the two blue cardstock snowflakes through a Xyron machine and glue the white to white and then adhered both blue cardstock snowflakes to each side of the white snowflake.   This makes the snowflake very dimensional and puts the white chipboard in the middle.

Put an eyelet in so it can hold ribbon or wire.  I originally started to put the glue on with a foam brush.  However, the glue dried out too much and it was too thin to hold the coarse German Glass on the snowflake.

TIP:  You need to use a semi-thick consistency glue that will dry clear.  I use Art Glitter Designer Adhesive (www.artglitter.com) because it is excellent for glitter and German Glass.  It is a little pricey ($18.59 for 8oz.) but it has lasted me for a long time and it works great. 

I found that if you dab the glue in a small area at a time and then pour the German Glass over it, it adheres better.  This process takes a little while and I took two days letting one side dry and then did the other side.

Once dry, I went back and looked over it to see if there were any areas that I missed.  Well of course there was…. because with coarse German Glass it is too large and will not get in all those little twist and turns and edges.

To fill in those areas, I put on additional glue and used a very fine glitter in a color that was close to the German Glass.  Coarse German Glass does not have the eye popping glitz that glitter does so by adding the fine glitter it really makes the snowflake shine and catch light.

Warning:  German Glass is not glitter.  It is little shards of glass and should not be used on items where children will be handling them.  So be sure and be very careful.

My Mother’s favorite color is blue.  Her B-card is white and blue and her little snowflake ornament will be an additional surprise.  I need to find a little box to put it in, oh wait, I think I can have my Cricut Expression cut me one.  There it is another project, I don’t think it ever ends.

Tags: Project

I bought these files a year or so ago.  It is was of those sets of tools you see and think, “oh those will come in handy”.

Strange enough I really haven’t used them much until now.  There are various shapes, one flat on one side round on the other, another just small and round.  They are files and I think they are made by Basic Grey.

I’m working on a item for Paper Cutz Challenge #9 and these tools have come in very handy.

Hmm, what is the item?  You’ll have to wait until Friday to see it, but it is coming out beautiful if I do say so.

This is not glitter, although it looks like glitter,  it is glass.  German glass will cut you because it is little shards of glass.  This is not the type of stuff you want to use on a project that kids will be receiving or handling.

If you click on the picture you will see it says fine and that it will tarnish.  When this tarnishes it will take on a patina that looks very old and it is beautiful on Christmas projects.

My Mother loves blue, so I’m in the process of making her  B-card.  I’ve taken some white core blue paper and used nine different folders on 1″ squares.  Once embossed I took some sand paper and scuffed off some of the paper to bring the embossing alive.

I took  each of those nine squares and edged them with the silver (fine)  German Glass.  You will need to use a glue that adheres and holds really well and dries clear.

So stay tune, you will see how I put all of this together for Mom’s B-Day Card and I’m going to use German Glass on the Paper Cutz #9.

Doesn’t this remind you of fall.  We can actually learn a lot from examining these leaves.  Notice the placement of colors and the edging of yellow around the leaves.  These are the things I try to capture when I use Prisma color pencils and orderless mineral spirits to color (MPCT) the images for my cards.

We’ve had internet problems most of the day at work and that has been so exasperating.  I came home with the full intent of working on my Mother’s B-Day card but after a nice dinner (by the way I cooked it myself) I found myself engrossed in the US Open and watching Federer get spanked.  I’m not usually into tennis but the last two days I have for some reason enjoyed watching.

So somethings I’m working on, Paper Cutz challenge #9, this has to be done by the end of the day Thursday.  My Mother’s B-day card, it is started but I just need to bring everything together.  I also need to do another page in my GD scrapbook, and that means I need to order some pictures.

So, I’ll take a little rest today and then show you something new probably by Wednesday.  I’m having dinner with an old friend Tuesday evening, so depending on what time I get home there may or may not be a new posting.

Ok, you know I have to do it, I entered to see if I could win this cart and one of the requirements is to link back to the product page for the cart to enter a second time.

You need to go and reply on the Circut Message Board, click here.  Just read the “sticky note” at the top and then post a reply.  That is your first chance to win.  Post a link back to the product information on your website or blog, if you have one, and that is your second chance to win.

Click here and check it out.

Ok, just as I said no one carried the Pumpkin Pie Syrup in this area, I discovered they do.  As I was doing my Sunday ritual (sitting in my big comfy chair reading the sales papers), World Market’s advertisement showed they had Pumpkin Pie Syrup.

Now with this added to my coffee bar I should be able to make a faster Pumpkin Spice Latte.  I’ll replace the 1/4 tsp of Pumpkin pie spice with the syrup.  I do think I’ll add a pump of brown sugar cinnamon and see how that works with it.  When I get the recipe tweaked I’ll let put it back up.

Have to say even the testing of the tweaking of the recipe has tasted good so it’s a great recipe even if you don’t change it.  By the way if the puree is a little to gritty for you, heat it with the milk in the sauce pan to dissolve it more, or if you are making it in your mug just be sure and stir really well.

I’m thinking this is pretty good when you think of it, you are actually getting one of your daily vegetable requirement in your coffee drink.  One down and 4 to go, if I have a V8 at mid-morning I can have 4 of my vegetables by 10:30 AM.   Who would have thought you can meet your minimum daily requirement all through drinking and not even using a juicer.

Tags: Thoughts