Mother's Day

Here is the Mother's Day card I made for my amazing Mom who is 94 years wise!  Yes, that is a picture of my Mom and me!  The flowers were colored by inking the tag with appropriate colors keeping in mind how I was going to position the flower stamp.  Then I stamped the flowers with Versamark ink and embossed the stamped images with clear embossing powder.  Once the embossing was done, I went over the entire tag with the darker ink and the embossing acted as a resist to allow the first layer of color to pop out.  Pretty cool technique!  Thanks to Jane and T!m for the inspiration.  Peace.

Celtic Cross

Hi everyone!  Here is a card I made for our nephew's Confirmation.  I found and downloaded the free svg file of the cross here (http://www.svgcuts.com/blog/2010/11/01/free-svg-file-sure-cuts-a-lot-11-01-10-celtic-cross/).  I used my Cricut Expression and the "Sure Cuts A Lot" program to cut it out.  This was a manual-intensive card, because of all the tiny little pieces that make up the cross.  Thank goodness for my Xyron!  Peace.

Foil Tag Technique

Howdy bloggers!  Well, Fiesta is over in San Antonio.  Maybe you've heard the saying, "Ain't Gonna Resta 'til After Fiesta."  I took that a little too literally this year!  We worked or attended too many events.  I, for one, am glad it's over!  I think next year we will take it a little easier.  OK, enough about that.  Today I am showing you a tag card using heavy duty aluminum foil.  I started with one of my homemade tags and adhered the foil to it.  I used liquid Scotch Quick Dry adhesive, but since then I have bought some spray adhesive for the next time.  I think that may be a better choice.  I trimmed the foil to the size of the tag.  Then I ran it through my Sizzix Big Kick with the Tim Holtz "Patchwork" embossing folder.  After that, I pounced on it with some alcohol inks.  To make sure the foil didn't separate from the tag, I alcohol-inked some aluminum tape and applied it to the edges of the tag.  The stamped butterflies along the right side are painted with Perfect Pearls powder mixed with water.  I colored the large butterfly with Copic markers.  I should credit my teacher Inky Jane for the design.  I shamelessly stole it from a card we made in class recently.  Thanks, Jane!!  Peace.

How to Make Inexpensive Tags for your Tim Holtz-i-ness

Greetings!  Today I want to share with you how I made some tags SOOO much cheaper than buying them ready-made.  I bought some manila folders and cut them myself.  I used "heavy weight 3-tab file folders" that I found at Staples.  I should stress that the heavy weight variety makes all the difference here.  I should be able to cut at least 10 #5 tags from one folder.  I paid $2.00 for a pack of 12 folders, so I can make at least 120 tags (4 3/4 x 2 3/8 inches) from this pack.  That comes out to less than 2 cents per tag, instead of 20 cents per tag.  Wowza!  To make the tags, I just used my paper trimmer and then snipped off the corners and punched the hole with my hole punch.  Super easy.  If you want the hole reinforcers, you can find them at Target, or Tim Holtz has his own super-cute ones (of course!).  Peace.

the journey is the destination

I made this card for my nephew's 16th birthday.  Last summer, he went to Philmont Scout Ranch for a scouting trip, and he brought back a map of Philmont for his uncle Phil.  I copied a portion of this map onto matte photo paper for the card background.  I stamped the ticket using the Tim Holtz "Odds and Ends" stamp set and inked it with distress inks.  I created the compass at the top of the card using a Tim Holtz Fragment charm.  I used alcohol inks to add color to the charm then stamped a compass image on white cardstock and glued it the charm using Glossy Accents and then trimmed the cardstock to fit the fragment.  I fastened the compass fragment to the card with a brad.  Finally, I stamped a botanical stamp at the bottom of the map to add a bit of interest.  I really like the way this card came out!  Peace.

*fun*ky!

Hey y'all.  Here's a card that is a little funky, but fun too.  I used the "Tattered Florals" Tim Holtz Sizzix die.  I cut out the flower pieces with some printed vellum, and again with some heavy duty aluminum foil (yeah, like from the kitchen).  I actually cut it a third time with plain white card stock and adhered that to the foil pieces to give them some substance.  Then I dry-embossed and cut some foil leaves out of the same kitchen foil using my new Walnut Hollow metal embossing kit.  This kit was a semi-impulse buy at Hobby Lobby.  (My 40% off coupon was burning a hole in my pocket and I have been wanting to try this for a while anyway.)  I assembled the flower alternating the foil and vellum pieces and finished it with a shiny silver brad.  Then I stained the leaves with some alcohol inks, put it all together and added the stamped sentiment.  Like I said, FUNKY FUN!  Peace.

Baby Shower

What a great day to be in SA!  Today the weather here was just stunning.  I love these blue-sky-bird-chirpy days.  Anyway, here is a card commissioned by my sis-in-law Cindy for a co-worker's baby shower.  She has chosen the "Team Safari" theme for the nursery, which consists of cute jungle animals who are into sports!  Peace.