Beautiful

Hi Everyone!!!!
Hope your week is off to a great start. I thought I'd share a new card with you this evening.The image is from Unity and the artist is Angie Blom. Love the flowers and I decided to use purple on this one.

Love this great Unity digital image. Thanks Angie!!!

  

 Here is a close up of those flowers. I decided to make them 3-D so I printed and colored a second set and manipulated them and popped them over the original image.

I also used part of a printed page from a book. I like using those from time to time. I also added a trellis and glittered it just to add more interest to this card.

One more close up. I cut out the trellis looking area to the side of the flowers  (part of the Unity image) and I used a Japanese Screw Punch to get into those little areas. I wanted to open that area up and I didn't want to have to use my x-acto knife.I'd still be cutting if I used that. The screw punch worked better for me. I used the glue pen on the trellis area of the image and then I added glitter. One can never have too much glitter can one?? LOL

Well that's it for now, see you soon, thanks for stopping in tonite!!!

Fall and Christmas

Hi Everyone!!!

Thanks for stopping in today. I want to show you the cards from my 2nd class that I gave last Saturday. This class centered on how to use Outline Stickers and Velvet (microfine) Glitter. All of my microfine glitters are from Sparkle N Sprinkle and they are called Velvet Glitter. Sparkle N Sprinkle has a fabulous array of colors to choose from. Check them out here.

Here is the first card I made as a sample for the class:

Here is a closer view of the fall leaves.

When I applied the glitter to color the leaves above, it just didn't look too blended. It looked kind of spotty. Well I decided to try a different way of applying the glitter to try to minimize that spotty look. As I played with other leaves, I finally got the leaves to look the way I had envisioned. How I arrived at the look I wanted, reminded me of finger painting with glitter. And, that's what I told the students in the class. I suggested that they lightly dip their finger into the jar of glitter and pick up a small amount of glitter and dab it on the adhesive area of the Outline Sticker, next go back and get another color and do the same thing. And then do the same thing again with a 3rd color. Then they should burnish the glitter with their finger and by doing that, it seems to blend the glitters and the blotchy areas don't seem to show up.

Here are leaves that I made using my finger painting method.

The 2 larger leaves in the center have 4 different colors of glitter, and the 2 smaller outer leaves have 3 colors. Maybe it's my imagination but I think there are less blotchy areas using this technique.I wish you could see these in person, the camera just doesn't do these justice.

Let me share the 2nd card we did in the class.

This Christmas card did not use any blending of colors, however I did show them that they can use the Cloud Nine Velvet Glitter, which is a transparent white glitter, and color it  with markers. After the glitter is in place, a marker can be used to actually color the glitter. The blue tree on the left was colored with a Marvy Marker. Alcohol markers work well on this glitter too.The purple and the green glitter colors are actual Velvet Glitters.Those are really stunning colors aren't they!!??!!

Here is a closer view of those trees.

This was a great class and everyone loved learning the trick of transferring the outline stickers to the adhesive then adding the glitter.

I love working with the Velvet (microfine) Glitters. They give a beautiful look and everyone that looks at cards made using this type of glitter, just loves that look!!

Thanks so much for stopping in today. I will be back in a few days. Have a great rest of the week.

Christmas is coming!!!

Hi there everyone,
Welcome back!!!! Hope you enjoyed the most recent Sparkle N Sprinkle Blog Hop. All of the Sparkle N Sprinkle designers showed a lot of fabulous and creative cards, didn't they!!!

Also I would like to welcome my newest followers and offer a warm thank you for signing up to follow me on my blog.

And I just noticed that we have just passed the 100 followers mark and that means I will be giving away some blog candy. So let me come up with something and I will let you all know how that will work.

What a weekend this was and boy was I busy!!! Saturday, I offered two classes at Simply Said Rubber Stamps, and Sunday I did a dry run of my upcoming Stampaway class for this year.

Let me share components of the 1st class I offered Saturday.

Because Simply Said Rubber Stamps, a rubber stamp store located in Loveland,Ohio, is celebrating Christmas in July, I decided to offer a Christmas Ornament class. This was so fun and everyone enjoyed it.

 My first ornament used a little tea bag folding to create the tree and it sits nestled in a round little box container of sorts.

Each year at Christmas time, I make and give my closest friends a new and different ornament 

This would be perfect for that kind of a tradition, wouldn't it!!

Here is a perfect gift for children or for that someone who you just need to give a little something to.

 The 3rd ornament that the students made, utilizes a tin, this can double as a gift card holder, too.

 It's the gift that can keep on giving from year to year.You give it with a gift card inside and then from year to year it graces the tree of the recipient.

OK...... Christmas is a mere 5 months away, but you know, it will be here in the blink of an eye!!! 

I'm just saying!! LOL

In my next post I will be sharing the cards from the 2nd class I gave, also on Saturday. 

OK, I have to get back to getting my Stampaway class kits ready. 

Stampaway is right around the corner.

BTW, Stampaway is a fabulous stamping convention held each year in Cincinnati, Oh.and I am giving a class this year. More on that later.

Thanks for stopping in today and see you soon.

Girly Girls and Macho Mania Blog Hop

Hi Everyone,
Welcome to the July Sparkle N Sprinkle Blog Hop. Are you having a good time on the blog hop so far??

If you arrived here from Dawn Bennett's blog then you are in the right spot. If not, you may want to start at the Sparkle N Sprinkle Blog for all the details. Leaving comments on everyone's blog will make you eligible for great prizes this month. Prizes to be awarded are:

• one grand prize (the stamp set of your choice)
• 3 hidden prizes on 3 different designers blogs.(We don't know where the prizes are hidden, so make sure to comment on each blog!!)

In case you get lost along the way, here are the designers this month in the blog hop.

** Anne Temple  ** Karin Martin **
** Brigita Skopas ** Dawn Bennett  ** Barbara Bruder (that's me) **
 ** Shanna Sands ** Julie Zippel **  Shona Erlenborn **
** Jackie Smith  ** Marie Berquist  **  Brenda Smalle **

Our theme this month is Girly Girls and Macho Men. Hope you are being inspired and getting some great ideas. Since we all seem to have trouble coming up with cards for men, I decided to tackle the man theme.

My first card, for the soccer player, has a chalkboard background.  Soccer stamp set 504 is new and if you have kids that play soccer(and what kid doesn't these days ) this is a set that you will want to pick up. It will be perfect for those scrapbook layouts as well as birthday cards and so many other things.

Well I have made a card for the younger "man" of the house, so now lets focus on the grown up man of the house. A lot of men love those antique cars, so, this will be a set you will want to add to your stash as well. 

These old cars are so cool and most guys just love them. These cars are in set 285 1900 Cars

Let me show you each of the cars I used, a little closer.

Aren't these images great!!! 

click here for the instructions for the soccer card

click here for instructions for the antique car card

It's time to hop over to the ever talented Shanna's blog to check out what she has designed with you in mind.

Don't forget to leave a comment, to be eligible for the prize

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th to Everyone

It's a Beachy Theme

Hi everyone,
Thanks for stopping in today. I am back with my July Craft-Dee BowZ post. The theme this month is The Beach and I decided  to start a little book to house photos from a beach vacation. I've just got two pages started and since this book has a ring for the binding it can be expanded to accommodate more pages.

USArtQuest has been so gracious in sending the team some of their great products to use on our July projects. USArtQuest is the number one source of Mica based products and they also offer quality art supplies I used products they sent and a few of the ones already in my stash.

In my book I used stamped images and USArtQuest product on the front of each page. The backs of the pages will become the spot for the pictures from vacation.

Here is the front of the booklet. I am showing a mermaid under the sea. 

Here is a close-up of her:

I made this mermaid by using the USArtQuest DicroFibers. I had never used these before and let me say WOW!!! easy to use and so so pretty. Look at the shimmer!!

Next I wanted to incorporate Prills into the scene, so I used Perfect Paper Adhesive (sometimes referred to as PPA) to adhere my seashells to the chipboard. While the PPA was still wet and after I placed the seashells, I added the Prills to various areas to add additional visual interest and more color. Prills are little beads of a few tiny sizes and they have no holes. (How do they make those?? LOL)

Here is a close-up of the shells ladened with Prills. They look like colored pearls, don't they??

Let's check out the 2nd page of my little book.

I used a digital image of a fish and colored it using the USArtQuest Pearl Ex Watercolor Palette. The shimmery watercolors were perfect to use on this digital fish image.I also used the same watercolors on the seashells. Notice that chunky sand at the bottom. That's Mica Flakes and again I used the PPA to adhere that to the chipboard. The red net oh thats from a bag of onions. LOL

Here is a closer view of those Mica Flakes. I used 2 different colors.

Let me show you the bow I made. It's kind of different and it was so fun to come up with this fun style, and the great thing is it can be made using the Craft-Dee BowZ tool. So, here is another type of bow you can make.on the CDB tool. This style reminded me of Ribbon Candy so I named it the Ribbon Candy Bow.

I used twine on the burlap ribbon to make and tie the knot. I think it goes with the beachy theme.

I want to thank you, USArtQuest, for all the fabulous product that you so graciously sent for us to use this month. I rounded up all my other USArtQuest products and now have them all neatly stored together so they are easy to find. It's amazing how many different products I had already and now I have even more. YUMMY!!!!

Thanks for stopping in today, see you soon.

Craft-Dee BowZ Challenge for July

Hi Everyone,
This is my second post for today. I always have 2 posts on the first of the month announcing the 2 challenges that I am involved with. If you are looking for my Sparkle N Sprinkle Challenge post, just click here.

This month the challenge over at Craft-Dee BowZ is ANYTHING GOES WITH A HANDMADE BOW. That's my favorite theme, it leaves it wide open for anyone who wants to enter the challenge.

Sunday, was the birthday of a wonderful friend of mine. So I made her birthday card and decided to share it with you and all the visitors over on the Craft-Dee BowZ blog.

I decided to make Linda a step card. I used designer paper on the left panel and then I cut a transparency into an oval shape. 

Next I stamped Silhouette Grasses on that transparency with Olive Green Staz-On. I overlayed it onto the DP and then applied a 1/8" tape around the front edge and covered the tape with gold leafing to make a very thin frame. 

Next I cut another oval in blue cs for the back step. I cut a Catalina Wreath using white cs. I added a little color and some glitter and kind of pulled it into an oval shape and attached it to the blue oval.  Linda loves dragonflies so I cut one from vellum, colored it and attached it in that oval. I attached the blue oval to the back step. The front step holds the sentiment and I stamped it in Faded Jeans Distress Ink and I attached that as well. Next I added a small blue panel on the face of the card in front of that sentiment. I embossed it just to add dimension and added glitter for the added visual effect. 

My bow was made using the Craft-Dee BowZ tool, and to finish it off I made a pearl stick pin. 

Well I am taking this card and a gift to Linda this evening.

Tomorrow is the 1st Tuesday for the month and that's my regular monthly post date for Craft-Dee BowZ, so please stop back. I have a interesting project to show you. The theme on our posts at CDB this month is a beach theme, so that's a hint of what you will be seeing.

Sparkle N Sprinkle Creative Challenges for July

Hi Everyone,
And welcome to July. WOW do you believe it.This year is half over. I have been working on some Christmas classes so the Christmas fever is already in me. LOL (That's kind of scary. LOL)

Well since today is the 1st of the month, I am showing two challenge posts. This post is showcasing the Sparkle N Sprinkle Creative Challenge. To see my other post, the Craft-Dee BowZ challenge blog post, just click here.

The digital image this month is courtesy of Beccy Muir She has many darling images available at Sparkle N Sprinkle and this is just one great example.  

Click here to check out more of her digital images..

This month's theme is Anything But a Card. With that in mind I decided to make a bottle tag. I used the image that is the freebie this month 

Close up view.

I just thought a bottle tag would be a great idea. With summer we are always going to grill out parties and what a great way to present the bottle of wine to the hostess.

Just a reminder that Sparkle N Sprinkle hosts a monthly challenge and the winner receives a stamp set of their choice. "How awesome is that!!!"  Click here to check out the SNS Creative Challenges blog for more info and more inspiration.

Thanks for stopping in today, see you soon.