Christmas Time, in July?

It really is hard to believe we are half way through this year already.

But is you are one of those that really likes to plan ahead, we are tempting you this week over at the Cheery Lynn Challenge Blog with a Christmas July theme.

My creation today goes along with that theme.

I know I have mentioned before how I  love to use my Mary Engelbreit calendars as pieces for focal points of my cards.

What I wanted to do with this card was to somewhat mimic the scene that was going on in the Mary Engelbreit image.

You can see here the Window C, peeking from the back of the card image..

When you open up this tri-fold card you will see the small, simple scene inside the Window. I made the snow with Scalloped Circles, the stars are from the Patriotic Swag, the trees are upside down leaves from the Frangipani, and the festive colored flower is the  Frangiapni with leaves.

I also embossed the white scalloped circles with Eccentric Circles Embossing Plate to give them more dimension.

On the inside of the card, I used the Mini Pearl French Flair die for a large background piece and decorated it with the Frangiapni with leaves and Bird on Branch 2.

The white space gives a nice area for a personal note.

I love how the Franipani doubles as a “hook” to catch the corner of the image and holds this card closed.

Be sure to check out our challenge blog and we’d love for you to play along with us on our challenge for your own chance at winning a shopping spree worth $20.00 of Cheery Lynn Designs Dies.

I hope you had a wonderful holiday.

This has been Jeannie with The Polka Cabana with today’s post.

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Tussie Mussie Even Cassie would be proud of!

Today I am sharing with you this adorable hanging cone, aka a Tussie Mussie.

You might ask, who is Cassie and what is a Tussie Mussie?

I looked up Tussie Mussie and found out that at some point they were to hold wedding bouquets without getting your hands wet.  Who would’ve known?

As for Cassie, head on over to Paper Issues or Something From Cassie to learn about this FABULOUS lady.

On to my project.

The first thing I did was to use the Wittle Wickers and Wittle Weavers to create my woven cone.

I am using all papers from the Authentique Paper Wonder collection.

The picture on the left it the start of the weaving, the center is the cone all done and the right picture is the start of embellishing before I started to assemble the cone.

Here are some pictures of my final product.  I had such a fun time trying to photograph this, NOT!!

The tag that is close to the handle is actually an ornament that can be taken off and hung on the Christmas Tree.  The picture on the right is where you can see how gorgeous the woven pattern looks.

 I moved indoors trying to get better pictures and got this close up of the Tussie Mussie .

Here again is that fabulous weave pattern. You can also see how I took the Ribbon Eyelet Border and wove ribbon through the holes.  I then sewed this to a piece of canvas to make it strong.

I also edged the cone with the Anastasia Border.

The dies I used for the flowers are Judy’s Blooms and the Sunflower.

On the tip of the cone, I took the Celtic Fire Doily and wrapped it around and secured it with my sewing machine.

Here is a close up where you can see the ornament.  I made this from a free printable Mary Engelbreit had on her blog a week or so ago.  I enlarged it and printed it on shrink film.  I attached it so some cut out
 Sunflowers to complete the look.

One last look, what do you think?

Usually when I am creating for a post, I am pretty stressed and sometimes my 7yo son likes to pitch right in and create exactly what I am creating alongside(which adds to my stress level, believe me!).

 He has used Cheery Lynn Designs dies too.  He has a strip from Wittle Wickers for his handle, edged it with the Grass Border and has Darling Daisy on the other side.

He even has to photograph his projects the same way I do.

This is the mess WE made(mostly me!)

But look, all my Cheery Lynn Designs dies are neatly put away!

I hope you have enjoyed this post from me and my son.

This has been Jeannie with The Polka Cabana with today’s post.

Don’t forget that we have a challenge going.

It is your opportunity to win a Cheery Lynn Designs gift certificate and get yourself some of our fabulous dies.

The theme is FLOWERS.

Check HERE for all the details.

Gel-à-tins & Authentique Paper = Fabulous

Today I am using the set called Christmas Wreath.

To start out what I did was to very faintly stamp the wreath onto white paper.

I only wanted the shape and did not care about the image showing up too much.

Next, I pretty much made a mess with paint, again I only wanted the shape and was not too concerned with how it looked at this point.

I added some sparkle to the paint in case any or the painted wreath showed through in my final product.

I also die cut a couple of different sized leaves in different papers and die cut little pears also.

Then I took the 2 smaller stamps from the stamp set and stamped each leaf.

After I stamped them I ran them through a paper crimper a couple of times to distress them.

After that was done, I adhered them to the wreath background, creating a 3-d wreath.

I added some fibers and embellishments and embossed the saying in black on the card front.

Ahhh, I could just stare at this for hours I think the colors are so gorgeous and relaxing!

All of the decorative papers are from Authentique Paper’s Free Bird – COMFORT series.

The decorative corners are from Authentique Paper’s – Wonder Headlines.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing how I came up with this design.

I am just loving playing with these stamps and know you will love them too!

This has been Jeannie from The Polka Cabana with today’s post.

I have entered this card into Embellish.com’s color chalenge.

http://embellishmagazine.com/blog/2011/12/mixed-patterns-color-trends-challenge/

Last Minute Cards? No problem!

I am not even going to remind you how many days are left till Christmas, ask any child, they will remind you.

You’d think with all the card making I do, I’d have all my cards done and sent in the mail, NOT SO!

I had purchased these cute cards awhile ago and knew that I could do something to make them have a little more wow.

I love the design and color, but when you play with paper as much as I do, the fact that the card is one-dimensional, is, well, troublesome.  Sorry, I just can’t help it.

Let me show you a couple of ways to take a cute store-bought card and give it an extra special touch.

With this card, I added the some very basic flowers and leaves first.  I used the new MEDIUM ROSE and the Leaf for the Stacker Flowers.

I added some jewels to each flower center to make it sparkle.  That is it, just a couple of additions and the cute card is more eye-catching, less generic.

For this card, I added silver cording to the one-dimensional line on the card and this time made more layered versions of the Medium Rose with the same Leaf as the first card.  I also used Stacker Flower 3 and sized them to fit the ornaments exactly by using the Classic Window Stackers.  I also took the Celtic Fire Doily and cut it out in Aluminum Foil for the bottom right corner.

I added jewels for the ornament tops and you can see how beautiful this card has now become.

For this last card, what I did was to mimic the design.  I took the red cardstock and embossed it with the Wood Grain Embossing Plate.

To finish this off, I followed the same steps, more or less, as the previous card.  I then added some words from the Authentique Paper Diction set.

Here they are all together.  I have to say, I love how the doily looks in foil.  You have to be very careful with the foil as it is extremely delicate, but worth the extra work!

Card making does not need to be stressful. Even if you take some store-bought cards and just accentuate them, you are still adding you special touch and that is what counts.

I hope you have enjoyed today’s post, this has been Jeannie from The Polka Cabana.

Have a great weekend, now GO MAKE SOME CARDS:)

Don’t forget about our challenge.  We are currently on SILVER & GOLD.

Check out all the details and how you can win a $20.00 gift certificate to spend on Cherry Lynn Dies, ooh la la!

Click here for all the information.

Wednesday Wowzer PLUS!!

How are you today?

It is ME, you know the blog writer, with a fun new project with some {ippity} stamps.

I can say I do make these things for fun, but it is my effort to invite you over to I Heart {ippity} in hopes that you will try these fun stamps for yourself.

It also happens to be a time for celebration.  Our {ippity} leader in inviting you all to her birthday celebration where she is having some FABULOUS giveaways.

Be sure to check her HOME blog here:

http://www.papercrafteranonymous.com/

Today I wanted to show you a little ornament I came up with using the set CUPPY CAKES.

I took a Canvas Corp star and stamped the cupcake image onto it…

…I then stamped the cupcake on to various papers from the

My Minds Eye Ooh La La For Her line.

I added some hot fix pink pearls in swirl fashion and made the BABY trinket from Epiphany Crafts Shape Tool that I got the most wonderful deal on from YOUR SCRAPBOOK SUPPLY.

My final touch was to add the dangling beads and a flower made from Cheery Lynn Designs new roll up flower called CUTIES 3.  I made it this way so it could be used as a Baby’s 1st Christmas OR just a BABY of the family ornament.  It could even just be a room decoration, what do you think?

Think outside the box, that seems to be my motto!

Head on over to I Heart {ippity} we have such creative gals!

I love everything they make, every week.

Go and see for yourself.

Have a great day and remember this is the season of giving, not the season of stress and greed!  Relax and enjoy and don’t get caught up in the worldly view of this season.

Have a wonderful Wednesday.

Supplies:

Canvas Corp Canvas Star

Staz-On Ink-Timber Brown

 Epiphany Crafts Shape Tool

My Minds Eye Ooh La La For Her

Silver Twine, Ink – Stampin’ Up!

Hot Fix Items – Rhinestone Hues

Beads – Michaels & Hobby Lobby

Cheery Lynn Designs dies

Wednesday Wowzer with I Heart {ippity}

How are you today?

(Who am I talking to?)  That is the weird this about blogging, you have no idea if anyone reads this stuff.  On the bright side it gives me license to talk to myself! That’s good enough for me.

Today I wanted to make a Christmassy type card with my {ippity} stamps with a set that is NOT a Christmas set.

I have used the set called Flowers + Friends = Priceless.

I took the flowers and embossed them in white with Stampendous CHUNKY WHITE ENAMEL.

It is supposed to be a shabby chic type feel.  The embossing distorts the image slightly on purpose.

I stamped the leaves in green and embellished with flat back pearls and ribbon.

My final touch was to add the phrase.  I always go to using my DICTION stickers from Authentique Paper.

I do not know what I would do without those little guys.

So there you have it.

Do you have stamps that are not “Christmas” stamps that you can try this technique with?

Think outside the box, that seems to be my motto!

Head on over to I Heart {ippity} we have such creative gals!

I love everything they make, every week.

Go and see for yourself.

Have a great day and remember this is the season of giving, not the season of stress and greed!  Relax and enjoy and don’t get caught up in the worldly view of this season.

Have a wonderful Wednesday.

Supplies:

Canvas Corp Kraft Paper

Stampin’ Up! Ink, Paper, Ribbon and embellishments

Stampendous Embossing powder

Authentique Paper Diction

I Heart {ippity} stamps 

Cheery Lynn Designs dies

Holiday gift and Decor with Authentique Paper

I have a fun and easy idea to pass on to you today.

I am using some paper from the Wonder 6 x 6 bundle and a plain glass frame.

To start off I cut a frame from a full size piece of Wonder’s, off-white foundation paper.

The frame measures 5″ x 7″.

You can see all the shapes that have been cut out on the left.

I took each paper and put the right side of my cut out to the wrong side of the patterned paper I was using. This is so I do not get pencil marks left over from tracing.

You can see here that I was careful to number and match each patterned paper piece to the pattern piece I was using.

All the pieces are cut out, it is time to get ready for assembly.

Using a paint dabber, I edged all my cut outs and also the frame.

I also took the frame base and edged that with the paint as well.

I covered the frame back with a neutral piece of cardstock to cover the frame clamp holes.

Next I adhered the frame.

I knew I wanted to have the cut outs be slightly raised, so I put dimensional foam down first.

 Here is the first stage of the frame done.

Next, I took some vinyl and cut-out the word JOY.  I used a setting on my cutter that cuts through the vinyl, but not the vinyl backing.  Here you see that I have already cut and removed the excess vinyl and only the word JOY is on the backing.

This might be redundant for those who work with vinyl, but after I did the previous step, I took some mounting film and lifted the word off the vinyl backing.

What you see here is the vinyl attached to the mounting film. the sticky side of the film is on the back of the letters.  The mounting film will release the vinyl, once I attach the vinyl to the frame.

Here I have attached the word to the glass and I am peeling off my mounting film.

Step 2 , you can see below is all done.

Step 3 is optional.  What I did was to embellish the from of the glass further.

I added fibers, lace and beads to bring it all together.

It really is a beautiful piece and fairly easy and quick to make.

You could use this idea for any season or for any occasion based on what paper you use.

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and that you can use this idea for the upcoming holiday season.

This has been Jeannie from The Polka Cabana with today’s post.

Supplies used:

Wonder full sized Foundations

Wonder 6 x 6 Bundle

Jenny Bowlin Paint Dabber – Chili Powder

Stampin’ Up! Pretties Kit (no longer available)

Grafix Arts – Metallic Foil Board

Frame .svg – My Crafty Files

Misc trims and fibers.