Belle Papier {pretty paper}

Simply Sweet…this little card is simply patterned paper, rub-ons and some stitching. I just love the vintage look of Daisy D’s products. The main tag on this design is a large rub-on transfer and I overlaid it with the round sentiment rub-on. My jumbo buttons are simply patterned paper cut out with a button QuicKutz die and tied with ribbon.

Angel Baby Girl

Quick Tip: layer rub-ons over each other to add depth to your design.

It’s the Canadian Victoria Day long weekend here and we’re just trying to get over the flu so I’m keeping this post REALLY short. Hope you don’t mind.

As for the proud mama…hope you’ll allow me a little bragging rights. My son is part of a few choirs at the high school….senior choir, men’s choir and a 30 person madrigal choir. They all took part in the Kiwanis music competition a few weeks ago and won Gold in everything. The Madrigal Singers were invited to attend the Nationals in Ottawa. James has been there since Thursday. I just got an e-mail that they’re on their way home and are bringing home a gold standing. Congratulations to the choir! I know this is a poor shot but this is a photo of part of the choir at Spring Concert. I was at the back of the gym and wow…that long lens is hard to keep steady. James is on the far left. He sings Bass.

Hope your weekend is simply wonderful,

Julia

Happy Thursday! Today we have another fun ways to use it challenge for you. Think inch by inch. With the popularity of Inchies…today’s challenge is to focus on inch-size squares. Either use the Inchies or make your own or use one inch size fragments or glass pieces. If it is sized an inch…use it! My good friend Lindsey is posting the challenge for me today. It’s one of those life happens days…too many appointments etc. all in one morning! Check out the challenge here!

I’ve created two designs for this challenge. Now I have to tell you… I did cheat a little on the first. I had this idea I just had to try out using my new Hometown Pride Thomas Kinkade image and my new soldering kit. Do you think I could find my 1 inch square glass tiles?! Unfortunately not so this pendant is not the perfect one inch square. It is actually sized one inch by 3/4 of an inch. Hope you’ll forgive me.

Hometown Pride Flag Pendant

While I’m not American, I thought this would be a really fun project. Although I didn’t incorporate this idea…here’s one that I thought of while creating this…. A friend of mine’s husband is serving in Iraq which got me thinking….wouldn’t this make a great gift with the flag on one side and his photo on the other?

This design is my first attempt at soldering. It was a little tricky and I definitely need to practice but I’m loving the results. If you try it out…DO be careful. I ended up with two rather burnt fingers in the process. Ouch! I found that adding on the jump ring at the top was the most difficult part. My 17yo just happened to come home at the right time and gave me a helping hand. Thanks James!

To create this design, I simply stamped out my Thomas Kinkade Hometown Pride image (to be released tomorrow) from Cornish Heritage Farms onto some white cardstock. I colored in a section of the image that I wanted to use with my Copic Markers. The soldering kit is by Simply Swank and includes all you really need to get started. I think you’re going to see lots more soldered projects here and this just may be addicting. If you’re looking for a great tutorial…Ellen Hutson’s really helped me out tremendously!

Petite Bébé

My second project is one I just couldn’t resist making after purchasing some new Making Memories paper & goodies a couple weeks ago. I noticed that they would work perfectly with a Kim Hughes stamp set that she designed months ago and will finally be released at the beginning of June. It’s called Baby Love and oh baby…I’m in love with it! Some of the little sentiments and a baby onesie were perfect for stamping on my inchies. For one of the squares, I simply covered it with patterned paper and adhered a button. Now what I thought was really fun…the epoxy buttons are a perfect one inch square too! I created a fun little grid with them and then clipped on my darling little giraffe. Now I’m all ready for a baby boy arrival. Hmmmm….wonder whether my friend Naomi is having a boy or a girl?

Have a fabulous day!
Julia

Supply List:

Stamps:
Baby Love (Kim Hughes LIne) by Cornish Heritage Farms

Ink: Pitch Black Adirondack INk by Ranger

Cardstock:
-Spring Willow Dark by Prism
-Baby Blue Medium by Prism
-white cardstock by Prism

Patterned Paper:
Making Memories

Accessories:
-Copic Markers
-Inchies
-clip, ribbon and epoxy embellishments by Making Memories

Now that it’s May…I can share a few designs with you that I had published in the April edition of Cards magazine. With wedding season in the air, I thought is was a great time to share them as two of the designs are wedding cards. If you like simple… I love the white and ivory combo of the first design. I couldn’t resist tying a ribbon knot to accent the rub-on sentiment. The second design is a pocket card and uses some fun Making Memories Textured Tape and Epoxy Embellishments. My third design is about as simple as you can get!

Tie the Knot

Wedded Bliss

Pink Ruffled Birthday

I’ll be back later on with a new design.Wishing you a fabulous day!
Julia

OK That’s a lot of alliteration for a title but really… for this challenge, it’s true! Another one of Alli’s fun challenge ideas…case the style of another designer in the CHF gallery. We all picked a different designer to spread around the love. The designer I am casing is the extremely talented Michele Boyer. I know Michele’s work very well but actually, when it came right down to it, I was pretty nervous about casing her work. Her fun spin on things and her attention to detail…well…I’m hoping I did this design justice. When I think of Michele’s designs, I think of beautiful patterned papers, dark rich colors, cut out or paper pieced designs, stitching and of course…the dark copper brads. I actually was inspired by this design here and used the layout and some of the ideas while switching out a different line of Basic Grey paper and a different Kim Hughes stamp set.

Want to play along?! Just check out the CHF gallery and case a design. Check out the details here...

Hey Tweetie

As I mentioned above I took the layout for this design directly from one of Michele’s designs and switched up the Basic Grey paper to patterns from the 6×6 pad of the new Sultry line. I just can’t seem to get enough of this paper! To get a Michele look, I sponged all the edges with some dark Distress Ink and then put the card together. Some brown stitching adds some fun texture.

For the main image panel, I stamped the flower image repeatedly onto the patterned paper…one of my faves and I think one of Michele’s too. I used Kim Hughes’ Pretty Birds set from Cornish Heritage Farms and stamped the images onto various patterned papers from the Sultry pad. The little bird has details colored with Copic Markers. For the tree branch, I actually stamped it on the green patterned paper…you can see the color in the leaves and then colored the branch in darker with my Copics. To get a Michele style detail, I cut it all out and layered it onto some foam tape. To add some final touches, I added some Creative Impressions brads to the top of the design and as the birdhouse hole. The bird house pole is also stitched over with my sewing machine to make it stand out a little. Now can you tell what is in my nest? I trimmed off 1/2″ off the end of some Creative Impressions Jumbo ric rack. It frayed perfectly and makes a nice soft nest for my baby bird.;)

Have fun checking out the rest of the designs we’ve created for this challenge. We hope you join us!

-Lisa Silver
-Kim Hughes
-Dawn Lusk
-Kristine Reynolds
-Julie Campbell
-Valerie Stangle
-Lisa Stahl
-Sherrie Siemens
-Michele Boyer

-Lesley Langdon

-Lori Craig

-Alli Miles

Have a fabulous day!

Julia

Supply List:

STamps:

-Pretty Birds (Kim Hughes line) by Cornish Heritage FArms

-Silhouette Blooms 1 (Kim Hughes line) by Cornish Heritage FArms

Ink:

-Burnt Umber Palette ink by Stewart Superior

-Vintage Photo Distress Ink by Stewart Superior

Cardstock:

- Suede Brown Dark - Prism Papers

- Sultry 6×6 paper pad by Basic Grey

Accessories:

- large Copper Rounds brad - Creative Impressions

-ric rac - Creative Impressions

-markers by Copic

Tools:

-sewing machine

I was playing around with my new Photo Op set from Cornish Heritage Farms the other day. I was actually thinking about layouts since this set is really a scrapbooking set when this quote struck me. I thought it would be fun to make a graduation card design with it. That season is quickly upon us! It’s not your traditional style grad card…a little grungy, very masculine with lots of school elements thrown in. Perhaps the word is eclectic? Not sure. What do you think?

go where life calls you, believe, trust, love with all your heart, be honest, do unto others as you would have done to you, forgive, have patience

Pretty good advice, right? (I almost said “eh?” but caught myself. I tell myself I never say that but hmmm….I think I must.)

Go Where Life Calls You

The stamps on this design, just blend right in to that patterned paper. The Lined Paper Backgrounder (can you tell this is my favorite?! ) and the clock are stamped right on top of my Fleuriste paper by Cosmo Cricket. A tiny Creative Impressions paper clip “holds” the sentiment in place. One of my favorite finds lately has been the 7 Gypsies Gaffer Tape. I love the deep colors it comes in and is perfect for attaching in all kinds of places. Here I used a little snip of it for my abc. A few staples and the design was done. Quick and fun!

It’s been a long time since my last {C’est Bon} post but I’m happy to tell you (yay!) I actually have one for you tomorrow. Come back and check out my latest tool purchase…I’m lovin it!

Hope your weekend is {simply} wonderful!

Julia

Supply List:
STamps:
-quote from Photo Op set (the Rummage Bin line) by Cornish Heritage Farms
-Lined Paper Backgrounder by Cornish Heritage Farms
-clock from Time to Stamp set (The Rummage Bine Line) by Cornish Heritage Farms

Ink:
-Burnt Umber by Stewart Superior

cardstock: Suede Brown DArk, Frosted Teal by Prism Papers

Patterned Paper:
-Fleuriste 8×8 paper pad by Cosmo Cricket

Accessories:
-safety pin by Creative Impressions
-ribbon by Creative Impressions
-gaffer tape by 7 Gypsies

Tools:
-Stapler

This design combines a sneak peek and a new release. Cornish Heritage Farms is releasing three new stamp sets today… Friendship Centers, Motivational Centers and Birthday Centers. If you’ve been looking for great quotes and sentiments in a beautiful font…these are for you! I’m just loving how flexible they are. I’ve used some of the quotes on my scrapbooking layouts and they are ALL perfect for cards. Where the “Centers” part of the set titles comes in is that a lot o these stamps in each set work really well as sentiments for the inside of your card design as well.

I’m trying to get some more stamping done today before going up to the hospital to see my dad. Nothing like getting up at 4am. My oldest son had an MRI this morning at 5! I must admit…I DID crawl back into bed this morning for a while when we got home.

Friendship tree

I combined this beautiful Friendship Quote in a simple design paired up with one of the new Kim Hughes stamp sets…The Landing Pad. LOL This is one of those scrap cards. I go upstairs to try and clean my desk and all the scraps magically call my name. You’ll remember my red ruffle from Thursday’s Freedom design…this is the piece I cut off. Couldn’t bear to throw it away. The plaid is a scrap from a layout I have to share with you tomorrow. After stamping my tree, I colored it with Copic Markers and then stamped my little bird and flowers onto that plaid paper. I love the fun whimsical look. I know this card is pretty simple, but that’s OK! Have fun with your designs and just go with what you feel like creating at the moment!

Have a wonderful day!

Julia

Supply List:

Tools:
-sewing machine 

I just love Stazon Ink! I used my favorite two must-haves from the Stazon line for this design…Black and Cotton White. They are sooo flexible and I just love stamping on clear transparencies. The design below is stamped on CHF’s new Clear Card Sheets. I’m so thrilled with them. They make for a quick “wow” card and as they are at least twice as thick as regular transparencies, stand up well.

Today’s design is part of our weekly Monday challenge. You never know quite what you are going to get as we switch it up each week. If you have some Stazon Ink and want to play along…we’d love to have you join us. Here’s the Challenge… Stazon Ink is the Cornish Heritage Farms’ Product Spotlight for the next two weeks. I’ve written up a short spotlight on product highlights and tips if you want to check it out HERE.

Quick Update: My dad is doing much better. We hope to have him out of Trauma today and into a regular ward. Thanks so much for all the wishes and prayers! We really appreciate them!

Rare and Wonderful

As I mentioned above, this card is made from the new Clear Card Sheets by Cornish Heritage Farms. Each sheet comes as an 8.5 x 11 sheet so you can get two cards per sheet. I stamped the Friend Centers sentiment in black Stazon on the front of the card design. This sentiment is from one of three quote/sentiment sets designed by Lisa Strahl that will be released tomorrow. I’m just loving all the quotes! This sentiment in particular is one of my favorites. When I read it, I immediately thought of a good friend of mine and designed this card for her.

To create the image behind the sentiment, I simply stamped some foliage from the Nature Silhouettes set in Cotton White Stazon on the reverse side. A small light purple Prima flower actually inspired this soft design. I adhered it beside the sentiment and added a rhinestone sticker for a simple but pretty embellishment.

Inside the design, I wanted a way to hide my writing so I attached a folded over piece of Sultry patterned paper. To add some inside interest, I stitched the bottom of the flap and perched a little white felt bird. I love how you can see all the different layers from the front.

Want some more Stazon inspiration? Be sure to check out some other designs from this challenge…

-Lisa Silver
-Kim Hughes
-Dawn Lusk
-Kristine
-Julie Campbell
-Valerie Stangle
-Lisa Stahl

-Sherrie Siemens

Have a wonderful day!

Julia

Supply List:

Tools:
-sewing machine 

I’m seriously LOVIN’ this eagle! Does Kim rock or what?!I just love the fun attitude and couldn’t wait to play with this stamp. These stamps, Proud Eagle and Script Freedom are the Cornish Heritage Farms Stamp of the Month for May. I paired them up with this fun Ways to Use it Challenge suggested to me last week. We’ve done the crimping before…a LONG time ago and this time we’re pairing it up with ruffles and pleats. I can’t wait to see all the texture in the galleries today! Come join us for today’s WT challenge HERE.

Freedom

I decided to “ruffle a few feathers” on this eagle (sorry, couldn’t resist )and stamped him three times on my vanilla patterned paper. I cut him out three times, the first time the entire eagle, the second time leaving everything except for his bottom layer of feathers and finally, just the top beak and eyelid to get a three dimensional effect. After coloring with my Copic Markers, I layered him and adhered it all together with foam tape.

To create my pleats…I simply cut out two 3/4″ x 11 pieces of cardstock and started folding. I adhered them together in the middle as you need at least one and a half lengths to span across a 5″ card panel. Once pleated, I carefully fed it through my sewing machine and zig zag stitched. I adhered it to the design last.

To finish off my design, I stapled on some great jumbo ric rak and added a star brad…both from Creative Impressions.

Quick Tip: Transparency Die-cuts are showing up everywhere in the market. Why not make your own with stamps? Simply stamp Clear Card Sheets (much heavier) or transparencies with Stazon Ink and cut out.

Have a fabulous day!

Julia

Supply List:

Stamps:
-Proud Eagle and Script Freedom (May Stamp of the Month) by Cornish Heritage Farms
- star from Supah Star (Kim Hughes line) By Cornish Heritage Farms

Ink:
-Black Stazon - Tsukineko
-Black Palette ink - Stewart Superior
-Brushed Corduroy Distress ink - Ranger

Cardstock:
-Natural Smooth, Blush REd Dark - Prism

Patterned Paper:
-Boxer 6×6 paper pad by Basic Grey

Accessories:
-markers by Copic
-Clear Card Sheets - Cornish Heritage Farms
-ric rak by Creative Impressions
-brad by Creative Impressions

Tools:
-stapler
-sewing machine

Well…I’m coming to this challenge VERY late! The other challenge designs were posted this morning at 10. Due to some family issues that cropped up, I had thought I’d just have to pass this one by. Well…I found myself with some design time this afternoon and also a new package of goodies. Don’t you love it when that happens?! Some fresh inspiration. I’m not sure if I’d have thought of this design without the challenge and my new goodies arriving but here it is. Actually…I’m pretty excited about this design. Thomas Kinkade plus Inchies plus Chalks….what do you think?!

The Heavens Declare…

This design was actually really fairly simple to do. Chalking is a great way to color the Thomas Kinkade images by Cornish Heritage Farms. This image is The Open Gate stamp. I inked it well with Stewart Superior Burnt Umber Palette ink. Before stamping my inchies…I added a tiny dab of adhesive on the back of my inchies and adhered them to a scrap piece of paper without any spaces between them. After inking, I simply stamped my image and made sure to get a good even pressure…actually…I used the floor and pressed down hard with both hands. Using my Pebbles Chalks, I lightly dabbed on color to create a soft faded misty look. I didn’t have the exact colors in chalks that Thomas Kinkade used on his painting but that is OK. Every garden is different!

After I finished, I carefully pried up each tile and adhered them to my Prism Kraft cardstock with a slight space between. My sentiment is actually from a different Thomas Kinkade release. I love how they can be mixed and matched in many instances. Finally…I simply adhered my image layer to a clean white card base.

Want to play along? Feel free! I’ve written a thread in the CHF forums HERE. For more great chalking designs…check out these links….

-Lisa Silver
-Kim Hughes
-Dawn Lusk
-Kristine
-Julie Campbell
-Lori Craig
-Lesley Langdon
-Valerie Stangle

Take care and have a great day!

Julia

Well, as Saturday just did not go as planned…I’m sharing this card design for Simply Sunday instead. After a crazy busy week of Backgrounder Blitzin’ I really needed to take a break. Add that to a touch of the flu that popped up late in the day,well…that’s life. Also, trying to find that balance between blogging, designing, working and family is always a challenge. I’ve said before that I may be posting slightly less in order to manage it all and I’m really going to have to follow through on that. So…if I don’t post every day like usual, everything is still good. Don’t worry.

Inspire Daisy

This simple design was inspired by a Di Hickman sketch challenge a couple weeks ago. Yes…I did make it then and am just getting around to posting it now. It’s a great simple design that is very flexible. Here’s the link.

Once again, I used my new Shady Daisy Backgrounder stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms to create this quick card. I hope you’re not tired of seeing it as I love it! The daisy backgrounder is simply stamped in black directly onto some Basic Grey “plain” patterned paper from Scarlet’s Letter 6×6 paper pack. The coordinating stripes run down the side. A Heidi Swapp flower and designer snap by We R Memory Keepers finish off this quick design.

Hoping your day is simply beautiful,