Monthly Archives: April 2007

A Little Princess…

Posted on April 25, 2007 | 15 comments

I just love the book A Little Princess by Francis Hodgson Burnett…same author as The Secret Garden. I remember being fascinated with the rags to riches story as a child and read the book many times imagining I too was a princess. And what little girl doesn’t daydream of being a princess? Too soon life passes by this magical time & doesn’t every little princess deserve to feel like one, even for a little while? When I saw this darling new line of papers from Die Cuts with a View…I just knew I had to make a frame with it. I just love the glittery crowns and the rich royal colors. The even have the most beautiful coordinating rub-ons I just couldn’t resist!

Beautiful Princess Frame 12 x12 inch frame

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For this frame I used a large Provocraft wood frame. It is 12×12 inches square with lots of great surface area for embellishing! I covered the wood frame with Alene’s Thick and Tacky glue and smoothed on my patterned papers. After sanding the edges smooth, I then sponged all the exposed wood edges and edges of the paper with Close to Cocoa ink. I just adore this beautiful purple velvet ribbon I purchased from Starlitstudio and adhered it over the paper seam. The gorgeous huge flowers are by Prima and I bought them from Jacksonbelle. I punched a small circle of Bravo Burgundy and a larger circle of the patterned paper and sponged there edges. Using my Crop-a-dile, I set them all together with a beautiful Designer Eyelet from We R Memory Keepers. I just love the rhinestone center….a little princess needs some jewels, of course! To add a little more bling….I used strips of gemstones from Hero Arts to “frame” the bottom corner of the photo opening. For my final touch…the validation that every little girl would love…a “Beautiful Princess” rub-on was applied to the top left of the flower. I also added a “dream” rub-on from Royal & Langnickel Sentiments to remind her to dream!

Supply List:

Cardstock: Bravo Burgundy – Stampin Up

Patterned Paper: There Lived a Handsome Prince & Botanical Script Print – DCWV (Die Cuts with a View)

Ink: Close to Cocoa Classic – Stampin Up

Other: 12×12 frame – Provocraft, Violet Velvet Ribbon – may Arts, Gemstones – Hero Arts, “Inspire” Rub-ons – Royal and Langnickel, Princess rub-ons – DCWV, circle punches – EK Success, Designer Snap “Baby Boy” & Crop-a-dile – We R Memory Keepers, Big Box Blooms Odyssey #1 – Prima

15 Comments

Posted in Craft Critique Project, Papercraft projects

A Stampin Up Research Opportunity!

Posted on April 25, 2007 | 6 comments

 I received an e-mail last week and just got around to verifying it today. It was an invitation to my blog readers to apply for….

“Stampin’ Up! is currently looking for 450 stampers who are willing to participate on a market research panel on stamping and crafts. Stampin’ Up! mails panelists a free goodie box every three months in exchange for their opinions”

Sounds great to me! Wanting to be careful it wasnt’ too good to be true and sending you all for a loop, I phoned Stampin Up today and verified it. It’s the real deal. Here’s the details! I applied…hope they pick me!:)

More information for your readers:–

-Stampin’ Up! uses your feedback for research only and does not share your answers or personal information with anyone else.

-Panel members can expect to serve on the panel for three to nine months. 

-There is no cost for you to join.

-Your only duty as a panel member is to answer a short survey every one or two weeks.

-You will never be asked to purchase anything to participate in the panel.

-Daily operation of the panel is managed by Volt Marketing, an independent research agency.

-You can quit the panel at any time.

-We are looking for 450 panel members. You will be selected to join if your background matches our research needs. 

We are now accepting a limited number of new panelists. You can apply for a panel position by visiting www.stampsurveys.com

6 Comments

Posted in Blog Misc

With Sympathy

Posted on April 24, 2007 | 12 comments

I finished it…the card I started this morning! Today’s Color Challenge was to make a sympathy card with Virginia Tech colors for one of the families who have lost loved ones in this senseless tragedgy. I know it has touched people across the US, Canada and other countries as well and our hearts go out to those who have experienced this tragedy. If you are interested in joining in this challenge, the link is here.

Virginia Sympathy click to see enlarged detail of butterfly

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I decided to keep this card simple…one, I just don’t have the energy for anything complex. Two, the strong colors of this challenge seemed to work better in my mind with a simple design, and three, I fell that sympathy cards seem to by more soft and soothing if they are not too busy. This card is made from Very Vanilla cardstock in a 5″ square format. The layers are Bravo Burgundy and Pumpkin Pie, the colors of Virginia Tech. I added a top large vanilla layer with lots of open space for the butterfly to “fly”.  I love the look of open space in a design…sometimes it can be a little intimidating…I often fill up all the space with so many elements and forget that simplicity is beautiful too.

The flower was stamped with black ink and the watercolored with my Aquapainter and the ink pressed into the lids of my ink pads. I then stamped my sympathy sentiment with the Bravo
Burgundy and added a little Prima flower from the Prima Essentials Lucid Collection that I purchased from Jacksonbelle. The stitched ribbon is a beautiful green and it is from Starlitstudio. To finish off my design, I “inked up” the butterfly with my new Essential Glue pad by Tsukineko, stamped it on the card and then covered it with clear glitter. I was extremely impressed with the detail and shimmer that I achieved. I was quite honestly a little nervous, seeing as my card was almost done and I had never tried the glue pad with an intricate stamp and also clear glitter. I just love the result and wish you could see it in person! I wanted the shimmery butterfly to represent hope and their loved one who would always be with them in memory. For more details on the new Essential Glue Pad see this entry…Glitterama.

12 Comments

Posted in Card Designs, Challenges

To Answer a Few Questions…

Posted on April 24, 2007 | 3 comments

I tried to come with a card design this morning to post today…no luck! I still have a residual headache so I’m going to stick to a quick post that I know I can do! I’ve been asked a few questions lately and thought I’d just answer them in one quick post…

  1. Do you ever get your desk cleaned? You seem to always be finding goodies on your desk to make into cards.  Answer….Ummmmm, pretty much no! LOL I do try and tidy up but I really don’t have any place to put everything! I just have a desk with one file drawer and two shallow drawers on the other side. A couple Iris carts and then…well, things are pretty much on the desk or stashed away.  I’ve asked  my husband to build me a buffet-like piece of furniture with three large pull-out drawers for some of my stash for my birthday. I think he actually may this year as I think he’s finally given up on me getting over this hobby any time soon! I just have a tiny corner of the family room to work in. Not ideal but I manage. Someday I’ll have a stamping room but probably not until a few of my children move out. I’m enjoying them much more than a stamping room so I’m really not looking forward to that happening any time soon!
  2. Do you mail your cards with large flowers and embellishments on them or do you hand deliver them? Answer…..I do mail them and also hand deliver them. If I’m sending a card with a daisy Prima and large brads, I might wrap it with cardstock first before inserting it into the envelope or wrap it with tissue and mail it in a large Manilla envelope. The Martinique Primas (the ones I use the most) and most other Prima flowers are gorgeous but surprisingly tough and stand up well. One thing to note… bulky mail with embellishments does cost more postage. You may also want to bring the mail directly into the post office and get it hand stamped so that it does not have to get sorted by machine which may injur your card.
  3. Do you find the glitter comes off when you use your Essential Glue Pad from Tsukineo? Answer….I’ve just had my glue pad for just over a week. The projects I have created wtih it, I’ve had great success. After this question was asked…I went back and actually rubbed at the glitter to check. Small amounts of the glitter will come off under this abuse but I was quite impressed with it. The glitter still adhered quite well. I know that if you rubbed at glitter that had been applied with Heat & Stick powder or a Two Way glue pen, the glitter would come off at about the same speed. I would suggest that if you are having trouble with this, try “reinking” your glue pad so that it has more glue in it and see if that helps.
  4. How do you watercolor on colored cardstock…mine always buckles? Answer…I don’t seem to have much problem with that. I love watercoloring on my Stampin Up cardstock! If you are using a lighter weight of cardstock, you may find yourself having difficulties with it. If you are using the heavy Stampin Up cardstock, my suggestion would be to use less water. I try to watercolor without much water in the aquapainter. Just don’t squeeze the barrel as much. If you are using a regular watercolor brush, tap off most of the water before inking it up with color. Let me know if this helps!

Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be back to my usual self! Thanks for all the get well wishes! I’ll try and answer questions like these in blog entries from time to time so if you have questions…I’d be glad to hear from you.

3 Comments

Posted in Card Designs

Another Hello!

Posted on April 23, 2007 | 14 comments

WE’ve had the most awful 24 hours here…nothing quite as fun as the flu going through a household of seven! I’m finally able to get out of bed but wow…this has really knocked me out! Since I haven’t been stamping…I thought I’d share another quick hello card I made a couple weeks ago. Simple, clean and easy…perfect for a quick hello.

Hello Friend

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For this card I started off with this fun dotted paper by Making Memories. I loved the fresh simple look of it and so I kept my design along the same lines. When I was straightening up my desk, I came across my dymo label maker. It popped into my head that it might be fun to use it to make a border with Hello in different languages up the side. I also came across some fun stitched rub-ons by Cosmo Cricket that I had just purchased from Jacksonbelle. I added the stitched rub-on scallops right along the side of the label to add a little interest. I love how the scallops echo the shape of the dots. I then decided to keep going with the round theme and rounded the two right corners with my EK Success corner rounder. To finish things off I added a little Prima flower with a pewter Making Memories brad for its center.

14 Comments

Posted in Card Designs

Belle Bonbons Winner…

Posted on April 22, 2007 | 1 comment

I’d like to announce the winner of my Prima flowers and paper Belle Bonbons, or blog treats! I used a random number generator to pick a winner from all the comments left on my Do you like Primas post. There were 227 comments in all! The random number generator chose number fifty-five! After counting and checking it twice…Rosella is the winner! For her comment Rosella wrote…

Congratulations! Enjoy your blog very much! My favorite paper co? I don’t really have one. There are so many pretty papers out there. Anything pretty I can get my hands on.

I agree! I just love pretty paper…imagine that! It’s the translated name of my blog. (wink) Rosella, if you could please e-mail me your address…I’ll get this out to you ASAP. Basic Grey was hands down the favorite paper winner with many people having a difficult time to choose. Crate Paper, Cosmo Cricket, My Mind’s Eye, Stampin Up and many others were mentioned often as well! AS for me…I’ve turned into a bit of a paper addict! Basic Grey is probably my favorite as I buy everything they make, but that very yummy Crate Paper and Cosmo Cricket and My Mind’s Eye are all a very close second! Thanks so much everyone for visiting my blog and commenting. I really enjoyed hearing from you all! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Gorgeous weather finally showed up where we are and we enjoyed every minute of it!

1 Comment

Posted in Blog Misc

A fun quick Hello…

Posted on April 22, 2007 | 13 comments

I’ve been having fun lately playing around with different styles of cards. Some are simple, some more complex, a lot are stamped but I’ve also been giving rub-ons a whirl. It is a challenge to step out of your usual “box” and try something different. This card uses no stamping at all. I was inspired by the fun stripes of this paper to make a fun ribbon border. I love the fresh spring look.

Daisy Hi

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I love this fun Pheobe paper by Basic Grey. I just love all the colors and designs and movement of it. To not take away from the paper, I kept the overall design simple. The paper was adhered to a  top hinged 4.25″ x 5″ card  base. I cut a piece of adhesive sheet to size and then adhered one side to the patterned paper. After removing the top paper from the adhesive, I layered on fun coordinating ribbons until the adhesive was all covered up. I then, carefully trimmed away excess ribbon from the edges of the paper. Because the adhesive is so sticky, the edges are fine finished that way. I added a fun little “Hi “sentiment from Basic Grey Wholy Cow rub-ons. I added my very favorite Prima flower from the Martinique Collection…I just love that celery center and attached it to the card with a silver button brad from K & Company. Quick, easy and so much fun! Paper & Rub-ons were purchased from Jacksonbelle and brown velvet ribbon, dotted celery ribbon & stitched Olive ribbon from Starlitstudio.

13 Comments

Posted in Card Designs, Craft Critique Project