Secret Garden "I Love You Mom" Mini

- Tell our Mom's about all the wonderful things they do and why we love them... (3rd of four Secret Garden projects)

I just love working with this collection. I need more of it! I'm getting more ideas! lol

This project I had created with Mother's Day in mind, but it can of course be used for any number of purposes. I thought that this would be ideal to make for Mom and tell her how much you love her and why, and include some of your favorite "Mom" memories. If your Mom as passed on it could be your Mom keepsake that you go to every so often. Or, it could be for another purpose all together, as I mentioned earlier.

I kept the mini fairly simple as it is made using a pre-made Maya Road 3 ring chipboard mini binder, and I wanted to have enough time in class to complete the project.

Oh, and this post has a lot of photos again.

And, again I made a tassel, a large one this time, I also made another chipboard charm. Maybe this should be my signature on all my Graphic 45 pieces. lol.

Here is a shot with a few left over punched out flowers and leaves. I'm certain I'll be using these on my 4th Secret Garden project.

If you would like a tutorial on how I work these leaves, blooms and buds, as well as how I make the little chipboard charms and tassels, leave a request in your comment, and I'll put one together for you.

Here is a video for you if you wish to hear a few things about this cute little mini. You will, however, have to forgive the poor quality of this video. I didn't realize how blurry it was until after I posted it on YouTube. I was too close to the camera at times, and with all the hand movements, I think the camera couldn't focus quickly enough. Since the project is already at the store on display, I can't remake the video. You can hear a few things about the project though.

Thank you again for stopping by to look at this fun project and all the photos. I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Secret Garden Boxed Note Card Set

- I love this little project!

Hello Blog Friends!

Today I'm sharing with you a cute little box I made to go with 6 little 3 1/2" x 5" all purpose note cards. A perfect gift to give. And when the cards are all used up the receiver still has a darling box to use for something. You want to see it?

You can just barely see the score lines on the lid of the box. I wanted it to curve easily and make it look a little like a roll top desk since it houses cards.

 OK, that's the frontal view. Now lets look at other angles so you can get a better idea of what it looks like.

You can see my love for making and adding tassels, lol.

There is also my like for the little chipboard tags I make, or Charms as I like to call them because they are usually small and hanging off of something. See the little round wood beads used for legs?

And here you can begin to see some of the fussy cutting I did with scraps. I layered them around the box, and as you can see had them go around the corners of the box.

OK, now let me show you what it looks like as you open the box.

And, here are the cards displayed. They are all the same and simple so that we could have the time needed to create the box in class.

Hope you didn't mind going through all these photos. I also have a short little video for you if your interested in viewing that as well.

Thank you for stopping by. Happy papercrafting everyone!

Secret Garden Mother's Day Easel Card

-I've been waiting a long time to make some classes using the Graphic 45's Secret Garden collection, and here's one of four planned.

Hello everyone! I'm excited to show you this beautiful Mother's Day easel card made with some of the beautiful Secret Garden papers. Somehow, Graphic 45 and fussy cutting just seem to go hand in hand, and that's what I've done in the making of this card.

For the background I used the 8 x 8 'Leafy Treetops' and cut it down to 5 3/8" x 5 3/8". I then took the border that had been cut off and pieced it around the new size so that it would look like the original 8 x 8 framed piece. I should have taken a photo so that you could see the transformation. I'll try and remember the next time I do something like that.

Here are a few more views of the card from open to different angles. Here it is open - like an easel card is displayed.

More of a top view...

If you are wondering about that little chipboard charm I made on the left, it is for a box or special envelope that needs to be made for this very thick card.

More views...

And a close up of the fussy cut layers...

If you are interested, I have a short little video for you, too.

Thank you so much for stopping by to have a peek.

Happy Papercrafting!

April Vintage Layout Class

-a little late getting this out this month, but I'm happy with this layout!

For this month's vintage layout, we are using some of the papers from We R Memeory Keepers 'Antique Chic' collection. Sinceit is a vintage layout there is of course the ink distressing everywhere. But, this time I stayed away from the paper distressing, ripping and tearing. I just eer so lightly curled some corners, and made a ton of paper flowers...that had to be ink distressed of course.

I used Tim Holtz Distress 'Pumice Stone' in all my ink distressing for this layout. I think that browny gray colour goes beautifully with the greens and creams.

The next two photos are of each page individually.

And now for some close ups. First the flowers in the upper left corner.

Tim Holtz Sizzix die 'Tattered Florals' was the die I used in making all of these flowers. I used Liquid Pearls 'Bisque' in the centers of the flowers. The black flourishes are cut using MFT Die-Namics Fancy Large Flourish. Some I cut up into sections. Flowers in the lower left corner...

And here is the lower center of the two pages.

The three little grid rectangles are stamped with different words in each - date:, memories, & remember. A fun set to have for scrapbooking.

This next one, the upper right corner, shows one of the laser cut chipboard corners that I inked with Memento Tuxedo Black.

Well that's it for this layout. Hope you enjoyed it.

Happy crafting everyone!

Shadow Box - Authentique Remembrance

- unique colours and versatile collection make this line fun to work with

Hello blog friends! Today I'd like to share with you a future shadow box class. I love making shadow boxes, especially those that encase a precious photo. Here is what I came up with.

Oops, forgot to check my camera settings again. They look fine in Picasa though. Sorry for the blur...again!

Because this occasion was a western style wedding celebration, I thought adding the twine, lasso style, would be a nice touch. These are my children! The young man on the right, isn't really mine, but being the best friend of my oldest son on the left, he was over often and considered family. So after several years, it was nice to see them all together again.

There is one design in this collection that I simply had to fussy cut and roughly colour in just a bit of colour.

Beautiful paper, isn't it. 

I used Fantastix and my ink pads to lightly add some colour. You can use the pen nibs I put in the photo, as well. Once I get all my Spectrum Noir, I'd use them.

So, let me show you some close ups. Hopefully they won't be too blurry.

The "My Favorite Memories" card, is a tag that can be pulled out and written on.

You can better see all the layers of these fussy cut pieces I used on the left side here.

Can you see that the purple pinstripe layer is popped up? Next is the photo with the twine lasso.

I put the year on the photo in Picasa. Love that program. Here is another view.

Well that's it for the detail shots. Now, which one do I give this to? The Groom? Or should I make one for all of my children do you think?

Thank you for stopping by to have a look.  Have fun making your own shadow box!

Tools & Supplies:

PAPER: Authentique Remembrance, Bazzill - Dusk & (forgot the name of the green!)

INK: Tim Holt Distress Ink - Shabby Shutters & Dew Drop VersaMagic Eggplant

Tim Holtz paper distresser, Pop Dots, Hemp Twine, Fantastix

Washi Tape 2

My second washi tape card...

I used some Rock Candy Stickles on the little heart (difficult to see in the photograph). I like the
mixture of patterns. I don't often mix Rustic White with regular white but liked it here.

I'm submitting this in the Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes and the Scrapbooker's Paradise challenge: Embellish a little (or a lot).

{Supplies--all Papertrey Ink unless noted}

• Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, Rustic White
• Stamps: Framed Out #12
• Ink: Dark Chocolate, Soft Stone, Smokey Shadow, Broken China Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Ranger)
• Dies: Framed Out #12
  
• Other Tools: washi tape - The Sweetest Thing (My Mind's Eye), Rock Candy Distress stickles (Ranger), Clear Star gel pen (Sakura)

Washi Tape 1

Wehoo! Took a little time out of the long weekend to craft!

I've been wanting to play with washi tape for some time but never wanted to actually buy it.  Fortunately, I won some from the Scrapbooker's Paradise challenge blog!

Here is my first:

I stamped off the flowers once before stamping over the sentiment.


I'm submitting this into the Simon Says Stamp challenge: Anything Goes and the Scrapbooker's Paradise challenge: Embellish a little (or a lot). I'm hoping that the washi tape counts as embellishing...  ;)

{Supplies--all Papertrey Ink unless noted}

• Cardstock: Kraft, Rustic White
• Stamps: Funky Florals, Doilies (Inkadinkado)
• Ink: Vintage Cream, Dark Chocolate, Summer Sunrise, Tumbled Glass Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Ranger)
• Dies: Stitched Mats - Squares (L'il Inkers)
• Other Tools: washi tape - The Sweetest Thing (My Mind's Eye), Clear Star gel pen (Sakura)