Merry Christmas to All!

Well it is Christmas Eve and I'm just about ready for Christmas LOL.  I just need to bake the pumpkin pies today and finish a craft project.  My presents even made it to the East Coast yesterday!  Even Kit is getting in the spirit, she actually let me put a Christmas collar on her and take a few pics.  She wasn't very happy about it as you can see in the photo, but this is still progress :)

Here is another Christmas card I made.  I couldn't decide how to color this wreath in so I decided to emboss tone on tone.  It is not the greatest photo, but it is gold metallic paper with fine detail gold embossed on it.  It really looks quite nice in person.  I just layered it with red bazzill card stock.  The greeting is from stampin' up.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday.  Until next time, happy crafting and Merry Christmas!

Dee



Happy Winter Solstice!!!

Just a quick post to wish everyone a very Happy Winter Solstice (one of my favorite days of the year).

The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights and shortening of days. Depending on the shift of the calendar, the winter solstice occurs on December 21 or 22 each year in the Northern Hemisphere,  Worldwide, interpretation of the event has varied from culture to culture, but most cultures have held a recognition of rebirth, involving holidays, festivals, gatherings, rituals or other celebrations around that time. (from Wikipedia)

So I have managed to get a few more cards made.  This one is very simple and I will post the details later.

Ok here are the details being posted Jan 5/11 because I forgot about it LOL.  The stamp is from the lovely as a tree set by Stampin' Up. I used petite scalloped ovals and petite ovals from spellbinders.  The image was stamped with peeled paint distress ink and I used glue pen to add glitter to trees.  You can't really see the glitter in the picture.  The embossing folder is candy cane stripes by cuttlebug.

I will post more later.  Have a great Winter Solstice everyone.

Dee

Way behind schedule.....

I may never catch up.  The first 2 weeks of December just flew by (I was sick for the majority of it). Don't even get me started on my Christmas shopping.  Presents that had to go in the mail just went on Tuesday (they may or may not get there in time for Christmas), decorations and lights are still not up.
I just started making more Christmas cards 2 days ago.  So other than for my classes I have made a total of 4 cards, this is not good.  I have a few more started but nothing seems to be working for me.  I put something together,  hate it and rip it all apart and start over.  Here are the 2 cards I did manage to complete yesterday but, I'm still not sure I like them.

The snowman for the first card is a Inkadinkado stamp.  The patterned paper is from the  Bo Bunny Midnight Frost line.  I colored the image with prismacolor markers.  The greeting is popped up with 3d dots.

The second card is also done with the Bo Bunny Midnight Frost paper.  The stamp is by Cornish Heritage Farm and is called Embrace Christmas.  I used spellbinders petite ovals and petite scalloped ovals to cut out image and mat.  The greeting is from the vintage Christmas set from Crafty Secrets.

Kit has also been helping me with all the cards and class prep I have been doing.  She really likes it when I use the cricut machine. She likes to rub her nose on the corner of the mat while the machine moves the mat back and forth.  Well I guess I better get back to work.  Until next time, happy crafting everyone.

Dee

Another Christmas Card

OK so I managed to finish another Christmas card.  This one took me awhile to finish.  The image stamp is from Stampin Up and the greeting stamp is from Bombshell.  I colored the image with prismacolor markers I water color pencils, I then used a clear glaze pen over a few areas.  I also used some metallic gold prisma marker on the lamp and door handle.  I then added some white fun flock to tree steps & ground.  The patterned paper is from fancy pants & the card stock is bazzill saguaro & crimson.

Well that is all for tonight, I will have more to post tomorrow or Saturday.  Have a great Friday everyone.

Dee

Vintage Santa

Here is the card I finished the other day that I said I would post over the weekend.  I didn't get a chance to do that yesterday so here it is Monday.  I'm so far behind I may never catch up.  I can't believe that it is almost December and I still haven't really started my Christmas shopping.  I just have to make a list and try to get it all done in one shopping trip with my husband. 

The Santa stamp is from the Crafty Secrets Vintage Christmas stamp set (I use this set a lot).  The patterned paper is a double sided piece by Cosmo Cricket (Oh Joy: Mitten Mitten).  I stamped the image with vintage photo distress ink and colored it just lightly here and there with some water color pencils.  The bling and the pearl on his hat were plain and I colored them with an eggplant prisma marker. The card stock is bazzill burgundy.

I have been working in my craft room all afternoon so I should have something more to post tomorrow.  Until then happy crafting and thanks for visiting my blog.

Dee

New Class for January!

Ever have one of those weeks where you just can’t think of what you want to create. I get all of these great ideas and sit down at my desk and can’t think of where to start. I finally finished a card on Wednesday but it turned out totally different then what I started with. I will post more about that tomorrow or Sunday.


I am teaching the “All Wrapped Up” card class tomorrow and will be prepping for that tonight. So thought I better post this now.

I have been meaning to post this for a week or so now. I love the tri shutter card, I taught it in my Valentine’s card class last January/February. I have seen a few of these mini albums on line and thought I would like to try it. I made this one for Scrap Arts. It is done with bazzill card stock (celery & red rock) and the patterned paper is from the Basic Grey “Jovial” line.

I will probably teach this as a class in January. I will probably have an assortment of paper combinations to choose from for this class. I will post class dates as soon as the schedule is up.

Thanks for visiting my blog, happy crafting everyone.

Dee

Really....I can't think of a title for this post!

Well I had a very busy weekend. I taught classes on Friday, Saturday & Sunday.  I have finally posted my picture for the Big Shot class on my schedule page.  Four different projects in this class 2 cards, a votive holder & a gift box/bag.

I spent part of yesterday in my craft room but I don't have a completed project to post yet.  I have lots of projects started but I seem to get distracted by another idea and start working on it.  Then I end up with about 5 different projects on the go and nothing complete.  So now I am going into my craft room and try to complete at least 1 of these project so I have something to post for tomorrow.  Wish me luck!

Dee

All done....

finally all my samples for classes in November & December are complete.  Now I have to start making my own Christmas cards and I need to make my samples for January & February classes.  Scary to be thinking about that already.

The final 2 projects for the Big Shot class are cards.  The first one is done with Petite Scalloped Ovals and Petite Ovals large.  The paper is metallic copper, french vanilla and the patterned paper is from the basic grey Jovial line.  The stamp is by Crafty Secrets and was stamped with Tim Holtz vintage photo distress ink.

The next card is done with bazzill card stock white & Bahama.  I used embossing folders Swiss dots, snowflakes and a snowflake impressabilities on the papers.  The shaped pieces are cut using spellbinders labels one and Tim Holtz alterations "styled labels".  The image stamp is Lily Candy Elf by Pink Cat Studio and the greeting is from Bombshell stamps.  I stamped the image with black memento ink and colored with water color pencils and added accents with stardust pen.  The edging inks I used are versa magic cloud white & ocean depth.  The greeting is stamped with Tim Holtz distress ink aged mahogany.

Well I guess I better get back to work now.  Until next time happy crafting and thanks for visiting my blog.
Dee

Class Schedule up!!!

As promised I have put my class schedule up for November & December.  All you have to do is hit the class schedule tab at the top of the page and voila!!!  I will keep adding my classes to that page as soon as I have more dates.  It probably won't be until the new year, unless I get lot of requests for another class.  Due to popular demand we have added another "Blue Christmas" card class to the schedule.  Saturday November, 20th will be the last date for this class and space is limited.  To sign up for this class please call Scrap Arts @ 604-980-8811. 

Thanks for visiting my blog
Dee

Only two spots left!

This is kind of last minute, I meant to post this yesterday and totally forgot.  I just wanted to let my local students know that I have 2 spots left for my Blue Christmas card class tonight.  This will be the last night class for these cards.  You can sign up by calling Scrap Arts @ 604-980-8811 before 6pm. Class starts @ 6:30pm.

I will post the rest of my class schedule tomorrow.  I know I keep saying that but I will definitely post it tomorrow, maybe LOL!

On a totally unrelated topic to my classes.  I just wanted to post this wonderful picture of my grandfather. 

I will be remembering him and all the others who have served this country over the years this week!!! I was fortunate enough that my grandfather was one of the lucky ones who came home.  So many others were not that lucky.  Take time to stop and give thanks this week.

Dee

Big Shot Class in progress

Here are the other 2 samples I was talking about yesterday.  They are for the Big Shot class I will be teaching in a few weeks.  The first picture is a of a gift box/bag (if you add a ribbon handle).  I used the labels 1 spellbinders and the ornament cuttlebug folder for this.  The stamps are from Inkadinkado and Bombshell. 

This votive holder was done with petite ovals large from spellbinders and the fence die cut it by Tim Holtz.  The snowman was cut out on the cricut, but I have seen a few really cute snowmen dies that you could use in the Big Shot.  I just don't own one at the moment. The trees (are from the stampin up lovely as a tree set) hard to see in the picture but they are there.  I stamped them on the vellum with glue pad and then I added micro fine warm highlight glitter to it.  The patterned paper is from the new Basic Grey Jovial line.

Well as I am writing this I am falling asleep so I'm sure there are quite a few errors, I will try and fix them tomorrow.  Until then have a great night everyone and thanks for stopping by.

Dee

***errors all fixed, I think :)

All Wrapped Up....

Here is the final card for my "All Wrapped Up" card class.  I needed a simple card to complete the set and yet I wanted to teach a technique.  The present stamp for this card is from the "Mouse Party" set by Crafty Secrets.  In order to make this border I had to use a mask on the presents, this is the technique for this card.  I very quickly colored in these presents with watercolor pencils.  In class you will be able to use watercolors or markers to color them in.  I will be adding my class schedule to the blog on the weekend.  I will also be posting the first two projects for my "Big Shot" class tomorrow.

Until then, happy crafting and thanks for stopping by.

Dee

New class samples

Here are two more samples from my "All Wrapped Up" card class.  The theme for this class is presents!!!

I wanted to teach a bunch of different techniques in this class, embossing, inking, watercolor pencils, glitter, etc.  This first sample is a side step card and I colored the presents with water color pencils, glitter pen, glaze pen and even did a bit of paper piecing.  You can't really see the glitter pen in the picture but there is lots of it on the 2 piles of presents in the back.  I colored over the red bow with the glaze pen. I used bazzill card stock red and french vanilla.  I used peeled paint distress ink on the embossed panels. The present stamps are from the "All Wrapped Up" stamp set by Flourishes and the greeting stamp is from Bombshell stamps.

The next card is done with paper from the new Basic Grey Christmas line Jovial.  The present is cut out using cricut cartridge "Stretch Your Imagination"  and I used merlot glitter ritz glitter for the ribbon and bow.  The bling was clear and I used a prisma color marker to add some color to it.  Although you can't see it the square with the present on it is popped up using 3d dots and then the block with the greeting is popped up from there as well.

Well that's it for today, I hope to have something more to post tomorrow. 

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Dee

Happy Halloween/Samhain!!!!!

Just a quick post to wish everyone a very safe & Happy Halloween/ Samhain.  This is one of my favorite times of year.  I love the fall season, the colors, the crisp air, Thanksgiving and Halloween/Samhain.

 Samhain means roughly "summer's end", it is the final harvest and is said to be the Celtic New Year.  The night when  the veil between this world and the spirit world is said to be the thinnest,  allowing the spirits of the departed to return and mingle with the living. 

I usually find this is the time of year when I like to start new projects for the winter (which makes sense if you look at it from a New Year point of view).  I spend more time at home and usually this is when I start baking and redecorating my house (you know, moving furniture, changing the curtains, painting etc)

I got a chance to walk through one of the community gardens yesterday that was decorated for Halloween.  I had my camera with me so I took a bunch of pictures.  This is one of them and I had some fun with it in photoshop.  I'm still learning how to use this program but I'm making progress (I think, LOL)

I do have a couple more class samples to post and hope to be able to do that tomorrow.

Until then, happy crafting & thanks for stopping by.

Dee

 

One down only 3 to go

I finally finished this card yesterday.  It took me awhile to figure out what to do with the front and the presents under the tree.  The present on the front is from the cricut cartridge Stretch Your Imagination.  I cut the main part out using french vanilla card stock and stamped a simple swirl using aged mahogany distress ink.

The presents under the tree were stamped on french vanilla as well and then colored with water color pencils.  I then colored over the main parts of the presents with a stardust glitter pen.  You can't really tell in the picture but I also cover them with versa mark ink and used fine detail clear embossing powder to give it a nice shine and then popped the whole thing up with 3d dots.

So one card is done, I'm off to finish the others.  I hope to get them done today, I get to spend today in my craft room so we shall see.  I'll post what I get finished tomorrow, until then happy crafting and have a great day.

Dee

Halloween Card Class

Last week a taught a Halloween card class and I found the easiest way to teach it was to demonstrate the techniques I used to create the Spooky card from this post and the gate fold card from this post.  Well when I was finished I had a couple of half completed cards.  So the other night I finished them off, they came out a bit different then the originals.  I also wanted to sell these ones so they had to be completed inside as well.

For the first card I created an insert that coordinates with the outside (I do this for all the cards I sell).

For the gate fold I made a piece to go on the back of one of the panels so you have a place to sign it that doesn't ruin the picture on the front.

Well back to work, thanks for stopping by.

Dee

Work in progress

I am currently working on a Christmas card class using a new set of stamps I got at Scrap Arts.  The set is called All Wrapped Up by Flourishes.  I have lots of ideas and been testing different techniques.

I'm planning to do a side step card, a gate fold and a couple of basic cards.  Here are a couple of pictures of the gate fold in progress.  The tree is stamped with Tim Holtz distress ink peeled paint.  The garland have been colored with stardust pen and I used red watercolor pencil and glaze pen on the ornaments. I haven't decided about the presents under the tree.  The ones in the picture are on there with temporary adhesive, I think I'll emboss them and pop them up with 3d dots.  I'm still not sure about the card front and what sort of decor I'll use on it.  My biggest challenge right now is deciding all the colors I want to use in this class.

Kit has a new name, I have decide she will now be know as Kit the Great Paper Protector,  she decided this was her paper to guard.  When I tried to take some off the desk she attacked me LOL. 

Well I guess I'm not going to get much accomplished sitting here at my computer, better get to my craft desk and see what I can come up with.  As soon as I finish something I will post it.  Until then happy crafting everyone and thanks for visiting my blog.

Dee

Where to begin....

…hmm let me think, I have so much I want to post that I just don't know where to start.  I've had a busy week doing lots of work and teaching.  Have you ever had those days when you sit in your craft room and everything you try seems to be horribly, horribly, wrong?  I have, on Tuesday I sat in my craft room for the better part of the day attempting to make some stuff for classes and by the end of the day I wanted to pull my hair out I was so frustrated.  Nothing seemed to be working for me at all.  On Wednesday I didn’t do much better so I went out for a little retail therapy, and here is what I bought.

A new shipment of goodies arrived at Scrap Arts while I was there and of course I had to get some new paper and a Tim Holtz die, I have been wanting the Fence die for awhile now but I had to figure out a  project it would be used for before I would allow myself to buy it. I’m happy to say I have come up with an idea.  You’ll have to wait until I’ve finished the project to see it.  I also got this great paper pack from Cosmo Cricket called “Wanted” I love the paper in this assortment.  It is a 6”x6” paper pad and great for cards, this paper will be wonderful for more masculine themed cards. 

Also we received another new shipment at Scrap Arts yesterday and I was thrilled because my brand new paper trimmer was in this order, as well as my glue refills. I broke my making memories paper trimmer awhile back and decided to try a different trimmer this time.  I looked around and did a lot of reading and lots of people love the Tonic paper trimmers, so I decided to give this one a try.  I’ll let you know what I think of it once I’ve tried it out for a bit.

You may have noticed (or not, LOL) that I keep changing my background on my blog.  I just like to keep playing with new looks.  This is really the only time of the year you can put up the scary Halloween type backgrounds and not scare people away lol.

I have been surfing quite a bit looking for ideas and inspiration and I have found quite a few new blogs that I love.  I have added them to my Craft Sites I like to visit tab on the side bar; you should check some of them out. 

Also, just so you know Kit has not been shirking her responsibilities as my assistant.  She had decided that being a lap cat isn’t such a bad thing after all.  Especially if it involves being able to swat at things on my desk.

Well I guess that is enough for this post.  Oh, my new challenge will be not to ignore my blog so much.  I'm going to try posting at least 4 times a week over the next 2 months.  Could be kind of hard to do with the Holidays coming up and so many classes scheduled but I'll give it a try.

Until next time, happy crafting everyone.

Dee

A New Look for Halloween!

I found this great new site with free blog backgrounds "Cute & Cool" Blog Stuff.  There are so many cute backgrounds on there I may have to change my blog once a week.  I thought this one was good for Halloween my favorite time of year.

Here is a card I made last week, another dragon card.  I love this stamp and it makes a great card.  I colored the image with my prisma color markers.  I added shimmer to the wings with a stardust pen.  The shimmer doesn't show up very well in the picture but it looks better in person. 

Until next time, happy crafting everyone.
Dee

Time to get to work...

Where does the time go, I can’t believe we are almost to the middle of October. I am now busy working on my classes for November & December. I have at least 3 new classes planned and will be running a couple of my September & October classes again. I haven’t had much time for crafting recently but I have been busy teaching. Eventually I will even get a chance to use my new birthday presents that I got  a few weeks ago.

The first of my new classes will be a redo my mini album from last year. This album from last year measured 6”x6” and was a version of one I found on Splitcoast stampers (Scrapbook Wallet). I wanted to do a similar album but a different size, the original one I found on Splitcoast stampers was great but the measurements for the side panels were to large for what I wanted to do, the 6"x6" one worked better for me as you could the 4 side panels out of one 12" x 12" piece of card stock. Of course you don't end up with that as the size of your side panels as you need to use some of that as the spines of the book. The new one measures 6.5” x 4.5” and that allows you to use one long piece for the outside middle cover (green in this sample).  In the one I made last year you had to piece two pieces of card stock together to do that part. I made this book so that all the fold out panels will fit a 4"x6" photo. This base of this book only takes  pieces of card stock with some left over. In total I used 6 pieces of card stock and  2 pieces of patterned paper. with lots left over for decorating and embellishing. The patterned paper is from the Basic Grey Jovial line. I'm going to add some pictures and some embellishments tomorrow.

Well time to get back to work. I have lots to get done in this week. I’m also teaching a couple more times this week. My “Blue Christmas” card class is sold out for Thursday but it is available later this month at Scrap Arts. I really do hope to have some more to post tomorrow, until then happy crafting everyone.

Deanna

Birthdays are Fun!!!

My birthday was a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t get a chance to post because of how busy I was during my vacation . My husband spoiled me as usual a new jacket, a spa gift certificate, dinner at my favorite Greek restaurant but the biggest surprise this year was this painting.

He had it painted for me by local artist Jaime Gervais. For those of you not familiar with the TV Show True Blood, it is of my favorite characters from that show Sookie & Eric. I had no idea he was having this done for me. I have the best husband in the world. He manages to surprise me with something totally unexpected but absolutely perfect every Birthday and Christmas.


I was supposed to have something else to post tonight as well but our staff crop became a bit of a birthday party for me as well and I didn’t get as much accomplished as I wanted. I do want to send a huge Thank You out Shelley, Naomi, Kelly, Marie & Brenda for all the lovely presents they gave me. I have the best friends!!! We had so much fun Friday night.


I’m off to prep my class that I’m teaching tomorrow night but I hope to have more to post on Wednesday. I’ve also been trying to come up with a new challenge for myself. Until next time, happy crafting and thanks for stopping by.



Deanna

Happy Blogaversary to me

I really can’t believe it has already been 2 years since I started this blog. Where does the time go? I wanted to do something special for my blogaversary which is technically today but I haven’t been in my craft room for over 2 weeks. I had family visiting for a couple of weeks and I didn’t have time to plan anything.

I did get to play tourist for the past couple of weeks and had lots of fun taking pictures while we were out.  We went to many beautiful spots, so here are some pictures from my adventures.  These pictures are from Yale, Harrison, Lake of the Woods, Stanley Park, Vancouver Aquarium, Vandusen Gardens.

Well that's it for now, I'm sure that I will have something more to post by Sunday.  We are having a staff crop tomorrow night and I hope to get at least one project finished lol.  Until next time, happy crafting everyone!
Dee

Blogaversary coming up!!!

Well I was checking out some of my favorite blogs tonight and discovered  that Green Goddess Creations is celebrating her 2 year blogaversary with some blog candy pictured below. Just click the link to her blog to see how to enter.  So while I was reading about that, I started thinking, when did I start my blog....well...it just so happens it will be 2 years on Sept. 30th.  What to do?  Well I'll just have to think about it for the next week or so and see what I can come up with.  I think I may have skipped right over my 1 year blogaversary completely and then I was going to do something special for my 100th post, well that never happened.  I was going to do something special for the end of my challenge and well....we know how that turned out LOL.  I really must start posting more and procrastinating less. I am working on a Halloween card class for mid October so who knows.  Well here is the picture of the blog candy over at Green Goddess Creations go on over and check it out!

Until next time, happy crafting and thanks for stopping by.

Dee