It's Card Challenge Time!

PDSS - CLSC #15.  It's a simple, yet easily an elegant design.  It worked out so perfect for me because I really needed a special card for a friend of mine.  I just love K & Co. papers because they are timeless.  This card is made from the Brenda Walton Stack, using both sides of the paper, as are the embellies.  The green under ribbon is from Anna Griffin and the stripe colored ribbon is from Making Memories.  I used the Tsukinetko chalk ink (Hint of Pesto) and distressed around the edges.  Voila!  Easy, peasy, done!  Sometimes, making the simple, elegant cards are the best. 

Simple imagination!

                                                                   ........................Linda

Mother's Day Gift Card Basket

Happy Mother's Day Mom - I so miss you.  So, I dedicate this post to you!  Last year I made that amazing "Flower Garden" basket for Pastor Teresa (our Pastor's wife...who BTW, sings like an amazing angel).  There is no way I could top that - EVER, so you just have to move your creative thoughts onto something different. 

This year, I decided to skip making 'a big bow', and really, the only ribbon I used was to cover the handle of the basket.  The picture doesn't show it, but the ribbon was an off-white, with an iridescent pink to the design.  The colors in the iridescence matched the colors in the Victorian looking butterfly.  Add some beautifully colored flowers and some leaves, and Voila!  A basket is born.

Front View

Back View

Butterfly

I believe this is the last one until October.  I truly love making baskets.  It conjures up.....thoughtful imagination.  Until next basket.
                                                                  ............Linda

BSC#1

I just recently came across The Beary Scrap and it seems to be a great site.  I'm really looking forward to spending some time here.  I am fairly new at blogging and entering contests so this is a little scary and fun!  This is my first entry in the Beary Sweet Challenge.  A close friend just passed away and I have made this blog and entry a tribute to him.

I made this card with stash I've had around forever. The black paper was given to me by a friend. The white paper is Coredinations - White Pearlized. I typed Matthew's name and printed it on my printer. The rhinestone embellies I had. I really wanted the card to somehow signify new life. Flowers seem to do that so I went outside and picked the stems from a bush and the petals are from a silk hydrangea flower.

A Better Place is Sometimes Bittersweet

I want to dedicate this blog to my friends Matthew and Mariann.  This loving couple has belonged to my church for several years and is a beautiful middle aged twosome.  They are always so thoughtful and charitable and have always served with a devoted heart.


Matthew became very ill and suffered with liver problems.  Eventually, he was given a liver transplant.  He was doing quite well when all of a sudden his health took an unexpected downturn.  Matthew was diagnosed with cancer.  Unfortunately, he had a long hard fight ahead of him.  After some time, the bones on his spine started cracking and he was in excrutiating pain.  Pastors from our church (a married couple) visited and prayed with Matthew often and he always stayed positive.   But sadly, Matthew lost his fight with cancer.


Losing any loved one is painful and difficult.  The only redemption you have to hold onto is knowing your loved one is with our Lord, in a beautiful, peaceful place, and they are no longer suffering.  I lost my Mother four years ago but it still seems like yesterday.  I really wanted to give Mariann a card with my own personal words in it, so I decided to make one and make it a tribute to Matthew.

I am pleased to say the card brought joy to Mariann.  In a sad situation - I certainly had to draw out my imagination.

                                                                                       .......... Linda

How I Imagine

A few weeks ago, my friend Michelle made an interesting comment to me after I had given her one of my handmade cards.  She said, "I would love to watch you make a card and see the process you go through to make it."  I have never had anyone say that to me before, but it really is a fascinating thought.  How often do we really think about the process of things we do?  Now Michelle thinks she's not artistically talented.  Truthfully, most people believe that about themselves.  Being artistic is really a combination of several things; vision, desire, passion, learned skill, and a little love.  When people see your creations, most automatically assume you were born with the ability to throw the project together in its finalized beauty.  This simply is not true.  Michelangelo was hardly born ready to paint the Sistine Chapel.  Creating or mastering anything requires practice, practice, practice. 

I decided I would take up the challenge and take Michelle through my procedure of creating a card.  However, secretly my intention was to have her make it without realizing it.  No intimidation, right?  I started with laying out several color combinations of paper ahead of time.  When she came in and saw all the pretty colors her eyes just lit up. (Off to a good start!)  I suggested we make a card for her sister and she decided it should be a Mother's Day card.  We talked about her sister's personality and what colors would go with it.  We narrowed it down to two basic colors rose and white, and one patterned paper with flowers and two old-fashioned girls from the 20's.  Next, I encouraged her as she picked out embellishments that would enhance the card.  I gave her some pointers on how to layout the card and here's what she made.  Isn't it beautiful?

This was an incredible process for both of us.  Michelle got to learn there is creativity in all of us.  The smile on her face when she saw the finished product, well...it was incredible.  It was joy, pride, beauty, happiness, and love all rolled into one.  I realized that is exactly how I feel when I create a card or gift for someone.  For me, there is no greater feeling than seeing that joy in someone's face. So for those of you who have the desire to make anything, let go of the fear!  Go take a class at a local craft store or community college.  Whatever you make won't be perfect the first time, but it will continue to get better with practice.  And here's a little secret:  there is usually some little thing you won't like or a little mistake you make that only YOU will notice.  NO ONE else will notice, so please don't make the mistake of pointing it out.  It will only decrease the joy in both the giving and receiving.  I challenge you to take the first step towards something new and fun.  Send me a note to share your experience.  I'd love to hear from you.

Since I shared with you my secrets, I will confess to you my weakness.  I am a paper junkie!  I love paper: colorful, patterned, loud, vintage, pretty.  I just love combining it all together.  I try to keep it under control, but then I see things like what is listed on the Posh Designs Scrapbook Store networking site.  It's Blog Candy!  YUM!  There are opportunities to fulfill a Card Challenge or just post the "Blog Candy" and win prizes like this.  Take a look.

The Rules:

•  Only one entry per person
• Post your name and the link to your blog where you mention this candy and if you don't have one just spread the word out okay?!

The specs:

• 36 (3 sheets of each pattern) single sided 6x6 sheets - Sassafras Lass CHERRY DELICIOUS wee bundle
• 36 (3 sheets of each pattern) single sided 6x6 sheets - Sassafras Lass NERDY BIRD wee bundle
• 36 (3 sheets of each pattern) single sided 6x6 sheets - Sassafras Lass APPLE JACK wee bundle
• 30 single sided 6x6 sheets - Pink Paislee QUEEN BEE paper pad
• 30 single sided 6x6 sheets - Pink Paislee 365 DEGREES paper pad
• 30 single sided 6x6 sheets - Pink Paislee BAYBERRY COTTAGE paper pad

The Internet takes crafting to a whole new level!  Come join the fun.

See what happens when you use a little imagination?  

                                                                                   Hugs......Linda

Look What I Imagined!

I am so excited.  I've been working on a completely new project...something I've never done before. It will help if I share a little info before I share with you what I've made.  The daughter of the Pastor of my church is getting married in August.  I always make the card baskets for our Pastor and his wife for all of the yearly events: both of their birthdays, Father's Day, Mother's Day, Pastor's Appreciation, etc.  As a wedding gift to his daughter, I asked her if she had decided on anything specific for her card basket.  She showed me a picture she found of a wedding cake with a slit on the top layer to drop the cards in.  It was plain white with some little white beads around each layer.  I looked at it for a couple of minutes and said, "I can definitely make it!"  I asked her what her wedding colors were and I went from there.


The first thing I did was find three of the mini papier mache round hat boxes.  Unfortunately, when stacked on top of each other (upside down), there wasn't much room left on the edges.  But I was determined to make it work.  I then went looking for wedding type fabric. I remember my mother, who was an incredible seamstress, had her choice of fabric stores.  There just aren't very many around anymore.  I researched online and found wedding fabric, but the prices were astrominical.  So off to Joann's, but they really didn't have anything "wedding".  One of the gals there told me about a small little fabric store down in Huntington Beach.  Success!  I found the perfect fabric and it was on sale for $5 a yard - certainly less expensive than the $40 a yard I found online.

Now I would be remiss if I did not give full credit to my sweet sister-in-law, Ann Hart for helping me make the pattern, and cutting and sewing the actual coverings.  You see I DO NOT SEW!  My mother was the seamstress.  I do everything else.  To be fair, I only helped with about 25% of the sewing project.  Ann did the rest.  Thank you my sweet sister.  You are awesome to behold!  See here are some pictures of the wedding cake up to this point:

This wedding cake sits inside this lid.  It's very snug and will definitely keep all the cards inside the cake.  The bottom picture is the lid flipped over. 


I decided because there was not much room on the flat tops of each layer, I would do a cascading effect on the side of the cake.  This was the fun part.

   This is the front view of the cake.  

                               This is the side angle view of the cake.

   

This is the side view of the cake.  

 

                     This is the back angle view of the cake.

The hardest part was sewing (well, I didn't do that part), but fitting it and cutting and gluing it onto the boxes was tedious and time consuming.  Creating the cascading flowers was definitely the easiest and most fun portion of the project.  As all you crafters know, it certainly is the most rewarding when it all starts to fall into place and become more than you'd ever hoped for.  The Wedding Cake Card Box was a success.  I believe this is one of those "one-of-a-kind" projects. 

                 It certainly stretched my imagination.....Linda

I've Been Busy!

OK Blogger Fans...I missed my first mark.  It's been awhile since my first post.  I won't bore you with excuses, but I think I've got this organized now so my posts should be pretty regular.

When I made my first scrapbook project, it was a Christmas present for my boss.  His daughter had recently gotten married and many of his colleagues and business associates would ask to see pictures.  Well, that really isn't a "guy" thing, so I thought...why don't I make a scrapbook of the wedding for him to keep at the office.  Once the newness of it wears off, he can take it home as a keepsake.  I wish I had the ability to keep things simple, but fortunately, it turned out to be quite the book.  I am sorry I didn't think to take some pictures of it. 

Having conquered how to make a scrapbook, I decided I wanted to learn how to make "personalized" greeting cards.  For some reason, I couldn't seem to mentally make the transition to something much smaller.  I suffer from the "bigger is better" mentality - LOL. 
After a string of events, I ended up buying a Cricut Expression.  For those of you who aren't familiar, it is a "printer/cutting machine" that cuts out pictures and letters for creative projects.  One thing led to another and I ended up finding this wonderful     "scrapbooking/social networking/online store" called Posh Designs Scrapbook Store.  WoW!!  A whole new world for me. It really has a warm and family-like atmosphere. They've got a fabulous and artistic design team, and the members are quite talented and friendly.    I say this for two reasons: 1) you should definitely check them out if you love scrapbooking or cardmaking, and 2) they have bi-weekly card challenges which are a lot of fun to make.  The owner designs a layout sketch, and you have the opportunity to be as creative as possible to fulfill the design scheme.  It really is a lot of fun to see the many interpretations of the design.  I know, a lot of words just to introduce my rendition of the PDSS #11 Card Challenge:

Unfortunately, this blog doesn't do the colors justice.  The colors are more of a "tropical" selection of pastels.  I had so much fun making this card that I ended up making six more.  Suffice it to say, I am really loving this new avenue of creation.  Now the problem is...what do I do with them all?  Hmmm, maybe I can sell them...surely something to ponder.

Here's a couple of cards I made for my special friend Michelle.  Can you tell she really loves Bling?

This is the third card I ever made.  Don't ask me why, but I always get these great ideas that I have never done before.  I decided I wanted to sew the lace on the card.  I have never sewn a day in my life, but I bought this tiny little sewing machine from Joann's.  Thank goodness it was for a 12 year old - LOL!  With a little practice, you can conquer much.  Until next week!

        It only takes a little imagination.....Linda

My First Blog - Yikes!

When you actually sit down to write your first blog, so many thoughts go through your mind; how can I make it catchy, should it be a show stopper, and will it stand up to all the other blogs out there?  It feels like the first time I had to get up in front of an audience and give a presentation.  (Those of you who've had to do it know exactly what I'm talking about). So I've decided to take the pressure off and let my first blog just be an introduction.  After all, I'm new at this, and I will get better as time goes by.


My mother was the most amazing seamstress.  There isn't anything she couldn't sew.  As a young girl, I remember sitting next to her for hours on end, watching her make wedding gowns, men's suits, and just about anything you could think of.  My doll had a wardrobe that would make any woman incredibly jealous!  As she became much older, her sewing days waned, and she moved into the craft world.  Once again, she could make anything she put her mind to.  She was a talented woman.  Many times she would try to persuade me to do crafts with her but I didn't think I had any talent, and I certainly didn't have the patience.  I was always glad to sing her praises, but my creative ability was...next to none. 


But she never gave up on me, and one day she roped me into making Christmas ornaments with her.  It was a tough start, but she was patient with me.  The more I made, the better I got at it.  I ended up having a great time, and she gave me the best gift I ever received.  She opened up the creativity hidden deep inside me.  She impressed upon me the more you work at it, the more creative you get.  My deepest regret is I should've gotten more involved with her sooner.  How I miss her!


It took some time, but I got my feet wet (so to speak).  I tried different creative projects, mostly on a small scale.  However, once I did a few of them, I was bored and moved on.  I tried cross-stitching, crocheting, and a few other things, but they just didn't hold my interest.  Then my BFF suggested I try ceramics.  OMG!  I loved it!  I made some of the most amazing pieces.  I hung in there for about five years, then I was just over it. 


One day I was looking for a gift for a very close friend of mine who was coming into town.  Nothing I looked at seemed right.  Then I saw this wreath...well out of my price range.   Hmmm, I thought.  I bet I could make that.  Off to Michael's!  I bought every thing I needed and put it together.  Wow!  I was rather surprised.  It turned out much better than I expected (and hoped for).  My roommate saw it and really encouraged me to make more.  A new hobby is born. 


What I have come to realize is we don't need to pigeon-hole ourselves into making one thing.  God gives each of us special gifts.  It is our responsibility to use them to the best of our ability, and hopefully, bless others with them.  There are just so many avenues we can utilize if we open ourselves up.  Any artist or crafter will tell you how great you feel once you've created something.  Whether someone buys what you've made, or you give it as a gift, there is nothing like seeing the joy in their face and the happiness it brings them. 


So I have created a tag line (a sort of motto).  "Creativity dresses the world".  Life - It's What You Imagine.

We each have a story - this is mine.  I hope you enjoyed the insight and I didn't bore you.  Next week I'll break out the snaps and show you what I do!

                                                Just imagine.....Linda