Wall Art- Powder Room - Cuttlebug Challenge #72

Good Morning,

Look what I did yesterday. I made a wall hanging for the "Powder Room"!

I've been in the process of decorating the house. It took me three months to decide the color theme/style for the guest bathroom. Originally I wanted something in blues & oranges & funky to match the bedroom but after searching every store both locally and online I soon realized I just wasn't going to find what I envisioned in my little mind. So it was time to change directions. I still wanted something funky...I'm always more practical so this was my chance to live on the wild side. Who would have thought? lol

The wall colors area light brown/beige color so my first instinct is black/red/white isn't going to go...I finally let that notion rest...not before I left the curtain and everything hang for a few days to make sure I liked it and it wasn't going to cause me sleepless nights cause the walls weren't white.

I then brought out my newest toy the Gypsy to create the wording. If you have a design studio you can do this as well. I can play with it in front of the TV while I'm sitting with hubby and he is enjoying surfing all the stations ont he TV. You gals know how that is...you just figure okay this might be an okay show to watch...ooops commercial time...and the surfing begins until he finds another channel without a commercial...we pause there until the next commercial. lol See how I've gotten off track...

I used Alphalicious for the font, Mickey & Friends for the lipstick and Wedding for the shoe. The beauty of this is I was able to pull up all those images and then "weld" them together so everything is one piece. I also cut the top of the lipstick and the shoe out separately on red cardstock and then ran it through my sticker maker so I could apply glitter to the top so it had a little bling to it.

The main image is cut out of black vinyl on the cricut and applied to the wall. This was my first attempt at this and I would suggest something a little smaller so you understand how the transfer paper and everything works. Halfway through the project isn't the best time to be reading directions. lol

I don't think you can see it but all of our walls in the house are textured. The drywall isn't smooth like most of the homes I've lived in. When looking at homes here all the houses were like this. My point being...yes there was a point...even though they weren't smooth I was still able to apply the word art. Another idea would have been to paint a larger piece of wood and apply the words to that. This vinyl is also supposed to be able to peel off the wall and leave no mark.

Thought I would include this picture too. I found this time wall art that was just a perfect fit for the room.

Todays project also fit the challenge over at Cuttlebug. Any wall hanging.

Must be time for me to finish the coffee and get doing something. Looks like I might be doing something tomorrow so if I do I'll give you the scoop on Monday.

Enjoy your week-end...I'm going to!

Yvonne

Baby Girl - Mojo Monday #127

Afternoon...

I was on the internet today and decided to check out Mojo Monday's Sketch and play along. A friend of my daugthers from high school is expecting her first baby and they know it is a girl. I thought I would get ahead of the game and make the card early...be prepared is my motto. It doesn't always happen that way though.

The main image is from Personal Stamp Exchange (PSX) and I believe they are no longer in business. Image was colored with copics and the star has yellow stickles on it. Cardstock & pattern paper is Stampin' Up. The pink piece of cardstock was embossed with one of the folders from "Frills" borders. Once it was embossed I cut the pink cardstock leaving an 1/8" border at top and bottom, this allowed me to slide the yellow cardstock that had been embossed with swiss dots in behind the ruffled border. The sentiment says "New Baby" and that piece was cut using the Cricut. Eyelets, dew drops, & ribbon were added for finishing touches. From the side view you can see dimensionals were also used.

We did get snow last evening...didn't stay on the ground but there sure were some big flakes! Thank goodness the sun was shining today. I tried to take pictures of the flakes but it didn't turn out.

Well it's getting late in the day...I started this post much earlier but didn't get finished. So . . . have a nice evening.

Yvonne

No Stamps - Get Sketchy #26

Hi There,

Missed chatting with you for a few days. I'll share my card first then at the end of the post I'll chit chat the personal stuff.

So for those who are here for the projects todays post was inspired by the weekly "Get Sketchy Challenge".

I decided I needed to do a card that had no coloring on it. I also wanted to use my Lattice Shapeability Die from Spellbinders. This particular set contains four different dies. You really have to just start cutting and trying different things so you can come up with different ideas. It took me a long time to use this set cause it just didn't inspire me sitting there in the package. I couldn't visualize how the pieces would work together.

Do you see the little brown pieces of cardstock that are glued onto of the blue pieces. Those are actually scraps from the brown die cut in the centre. The two blue corner pieces are scraps from the large lattice die.
The pattern paper was left over from a scrapbook page. Can't remember the manufacturer of the paper. All other cardstock is Stampin' Up. The browns match better than it is showing. Probably the bad lightening today.

To dress up this card I incorporated lots of pearls and I used dimensionals to create the depth the layers needed.

Hope you enjoyed something different in todays card. Don't forget you have until the end of the month to do my card challenge. If you don't have a blog to link your card to send me a pic and I will post them all at the end of the month. I will be doing a random draw from all entries received  to win a little treat from me for playing along.

Now onto the personal side. Saturday night we went out to a supper and live entertainment. DS bought tickets to Sammy Kershaw. Driving by the building you would never know they have entertainment nightly...it is actually called Dosey Doe Coffee.  Who knew it was more. Enjoyed our evening out. Sunday was warm...well in the low twenties anyway...it was nice...I thought warm weather was here to stay....not....they're calling for snow tonight. Ugh. It's like the last time they had snow in Feb was 1973. Go figure! lol

On that note our pool is finished but don't feel much like getting into it. The firepit is very nice & WARM. lol Still have the landscraping to finish and that should be done by the 15th of March. So I will post my pics once everything is finished.

I think that covers more or less everything. Hope all of you are enjoying your Tuesday and I'll try and stop back in tomorrow.

Yvonne

Get Sketchy #25

Hello Everyone

Thought I would play along with the "Get Sketchy Challenge." Click on the link to view the Sketch.

I always start out with one idea and end with another. I was going to use some zoo background paper that I have left over from another project  but the colors just weren't quite right so I remembered I had received at  CHA a couple of the new Sizzix embossing folders. The texture on both folders are of an animal prints. This one made me think Giraffe. I used the embossing folder on Co'redination cardstock and sanded. Also these embossing folders leave a very deep imprint. Nice. The mustard cardstock and stamps are from Stampin' Up the ribbon was from Costco. The tag portion is raised up with dimensionals.

These sketches are fun to play along with. Don't forget I posted a card sketch the first of the month. If you're wanting to play along either post your entry or e-mail it to me.

Thanks for stopping by!

Yvonne

Wiper Card

Good Morning,

I have finally gotten around to uploading my wiper card. For directions you can go to Splitcoaststampers.
The stamped image is unknown. An unmounted stamp from years ago. Always thought it was cute and used to color it in with watercolor pencils. This time I used the Copics. The pattern paper is from Stampin' Up about the same era. Can you tell I'm trying to use up some of my stash?

You can't really see the piece of cardstock that pops up but it is a birthday wish. The card folds flat to go into an envelope. Pretty easy to make.

I think I need to try another one with a more elaborate design on the front. I went through some of my stamps that are still in boxes (we won't go there) and picked out some new (old) sets to work with. Will try and do something that doesn't require coloring. lol I'm on such a roll.

Enjoy your day...I'm going for a walk cause the sun is shining. Yippee.

Yvonne

Me In The Pool!

Good Morning,



Today's post was inspired from a Christmas present I received in the mail last week. It was from my Goddaughter and her Mom. It was a little later than usual due to the nature of the present. It is very hard to find pool related items in stores in northern Alberta in the winter. Not a lot of call for pool toys.

Okay, so it's not really "Me" in the pool but that's what I'd look like. lol I received an inner tube, beach ball, a little fan/water spritzer and book to read by the pool. lol There were some other cool things too not pool related. Thanks Guys!

So my pool is filling with water as I type but you will not see real pictures of me in it.

This stamp is from Stampabilities, called Bunny Cruise. When I saw it I knew I needed it. Might use it for Easter too. I used a few different products on this card. Paper is Stampin' Up. The pattern paper was from a Valentine's line three years ago. The image was colored with Copics.

Lots of layers on this card as I created panels with the pattern paper and matted those onto cardstock. The inspiration for the card sketch came from a scrapbook page.

If you look closely at the fishes you can see their fins are covered in glitter. Dazzling Diamonds to be exact. Now look at the lips on the fish, (do fish have lips?), the lemonade (is it really lemonade?) in the glass, the duck bill and the blue in the water. All those area have the glaze pen overtop of the colored marker. If you're not familiar with the glaze pens they are marketed by Sakura. They are a 3-D ink and come in a variety of colors. When used they leave a glossy, slightly raised image. So the clear glaze pen I used leaves a bit of a shine. If you are familiar with Crystal Effects it is like tht but doesn't raise up nearly as high. It's in the form of a pen so you can get into small area.

That's all I've got for today.  For my friends in Nova Scotia rumor has it you're not thinking pools but snowblowers at the moment. My suggestion is wait till the snow melts, craft in the mean time and if you need groceries get them delivered!

Yvonne

Slow & Steady...

WINS THE RACE!

Don't know if that is true or not but this turtle is cute. All supplies are from Stampin' Up.  The turtle was stamped in grey ink and then watercolored with Stampin' Up inks. I love the Sage Green and Gray together. Makes a nice masculine card.

I've been working on some other projects but they are taking a little longer than I thought. One of them is a word book that I'll share as soon as I get it done.

By the way I enjoyed Mardi Gras. Thursday was a lot less crazy than Friday and if I go back again I'll go mid week. The weather was extremely cold and wet. The first night the parades were all cancelled due to bad weather and the next night we stood out for over three hours waiting and then couldn't take the cold any longer. There were body parts that no longer had any feeling left in them.  And yes, we were wearing toques and mitts. lol We are planning a visit back to New Orleans in May or June when it will be warmer and hopefully drier so we can tour around a little more. Did experience the mayhem of late night on Bourbon Street. lol

Hope everyone had a Happy Valentines Day!

Yvonne

It's That Dog Gone Time.....

Good Morning,

Sorry I missed posting yesterday...I did make a card but just didn't get it photographed and it needs photographing versus scanning. So next week I'll show you my wiper card!

Yesterday was exciting...yeah hubby made it home...it was nice to share a meal with somebody and he cooked it. lol Even better. And more exciting news "My Gypsy" arrived. For those of you that aren't familiar with this little jewel it's used in conjunction with the Cricut cutting machine. I had to wait until 3 o'clock for the UPS mail to deliver it but I wasn't leaving my front window until he arrived. Didn't want to miss him as I'm going away today. hehe Oh yes, this is a portable device, looks like a kids Nintendo DS system and I can take it in the car with me and design layouts, word books, or anything else paper related and then when I get home I can hook it up to the cricut and it will cut out the items I've designed. If I want to go to a crop I just have to take this thing and all my cartridges are pre-loaded into it so everything is handy. I played with it at CHA and decided I wanted it. Before that I swore it was not a necessity. lol So much for that theory. So maybe next week I can show you something I've made with it too.

Onto today's card. This was one I made while at CHA. The was at a copic class. Learned a few interesting tricks/tips while there and I've been working on them. This is a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inch card. The front of the card is folded back in half so you actually see some of the inside of the card. Just wanted to let you know that cause it's sometimes hard when you scan a card to show things like that.

What we were working on this card was background. The trick here is to take your copic blender pen and wet your background before you apply color. I'm referring to the blue area behind the dog. I actually colored it in in sections as the blender ink will dry quickly. Wet a small area with the blender pen, then with a light blue make small/light strokes with the pen starting at the dog and stroking outward. Because the paper is damp with the blender solution it will lighten and also bleed or feather. It reallyd does work with a little practice. I always hated trying to do the backgrounds cause it was too dark or there was always distinct lines.

How about those little paw prints. The paw was punched out first and then a circle was punched, so it was two punches not just one.  Too cute for you animal lovers. I'm pretty sure you can't see it but the spots on the dog actually have some glitter fuzz (that's not the right word but I can't think of it at the moment...it's like that stuff you put inside jewellery boxes and it almost feels like felt). Anyway this is a new product too and it has glitter in it. It was nice and fine and goes on with glue.

Had to show you the inside or the words you read on the front really wouldn't have made a lot of sense.

That's my share...it's raining here, again, and I'm off to finish packing my little suitcase to go to Mardi Gras. (This is for Kristen.....yes, I promise to be careful! She's a protective daughter!)

Yvonne (aka Mom)

New Co-ordinations & Post It Paper

Hello...a little later in the day for me to be posting. No stories to tell today just a little about some other new products.

The card above was made from "Post-It's" new craft paper. To start with it is fully adhesive on one side. No need for messy glue. The back is completely sticky. You can emboss it and sand as shown above. It can be torn and will show a white edge. As I said the back side is sticky but has a protective cover. You can use this sticky side for glitter projects.  You are also able to stamp, print and color on this product. You can check it out at www.post-it.com/craft   It was fast and easy to work with. And...it's endorsed by Cricut so you can use it in your machine and not void warranty!

Secondly Co-ordinations has another line of paper...this time it is already embossed for you. I believe it is called Core Impressions. I received samples of  some of the new paper. There is one that is a little larger than the swiss dots embossing from the Cuttlebug, then there was a texture like bubbles but they are uniform on the paper, followed by a snowflake or it could be callled a starburst. Another one looks like small stars and I also saw a herring bone texture.  Some of the pieces were brown on the outside with color in the core, there were some that was the washed white with color on the inside. I don't know how many different color assortments they are offering.

The last tidbit I'll share...I always remember stuff after I'm done posting. For all you Cuttlebug owners they have come out with extender plates. You know how some of those dies are 12 inches long. Especially the border ones and it's such a pain to try and cut them with our little Cuttlebugs well you can now buy longer A, B & C plates. I thought that was pretty cool.

I should be back tomorrow morning and then I'll be gone for a few days. I'm going to Mardi Gras! 

Enjoy surfing the net to check out these products.

Yvonne 

Celebrity Spotting! Tim Holtz

Good Morning!
How was the week-end? Mine was sort of eventful...but not really. lol
I lost my computer/TV/phone. Well actually just the connection, I still had the actual item. All of those are run by one company called Consolidated. Around supper on Friday as I was surfing the internet I noticed I lost my connection. Observant of me I know! The blank screen which says, " You have a problem...unable to connect!" was my first tip off. From there I thought I might check out what I had taped on TV. Nothing like sitting in front of the TV with your frozen dinner entree. Gournet all the way...hhhhmmmm no TV. Now I'm thinking my phone...it's all connected. Sure enough no dial tone either. No problem I have another phone that hooks to my computer...my majicjack. Oh...it's doesn't work unless your computer works. Cell phone, where are you? Good thing I finally got one of those a couple of weeks ago. By the way if you don't use a cell phone much the pay as you go ones from Walmart are great! Okay, back to topic...I contact the company...no they haven't had any reported outages but they'll get somebody on it, but probably not until Saturday.

We have a lot of construction around here so I thought maybe that was the problem. Finally around noon somebody showed up and a GFI plug had tripped. I had checked everything in the breaker box and it was okay. It was a regular plug-in in the garage that would give you no indiction that it was all hooked to your lifeline. But now I know how to fix it, should my overloading the system cause it to fail again! lol

Onto my celebrity post. I took one of Tim Holtz's classes at CHA. These are Grungepaper roses. It was a great class, two hours long and very fast paced. I think it was the best class I took. There  were about a 100 of us in the room. We got an awesome assortment of his new distress inks and stickles to keep as well. In additons he gave everybody a copy of his new book he released called "A Compendium of Curiosities". It's filled with great artwork and detailed instructions on using his product and the techniques he teaches!

Those flowers were cut out of grungepaper and covered with newsprint and then altered with the new distress colored inks.

Tim Holtz was also giving away each morning the the CHA show a limited number of his new sizzix dies for borders. My friend and I lined up outside the doors of the CHA about an hour early to be first in line to get through the doors and then try and get to his booth in time. Day one we didn't make it but day  two we succeeded. He signed our dies as well as our book we received the previous day. If you ever have an opportunity to attend one of his classes I'm sure you won't be disappointed!

That about covers my sharing today.

Yvonne

The Last Wedding Layout!

Good Morning,

I've completed the last layout for Adam & Steph's wedding album. Have to print off a couple of pictures for the front cover and I'm done.

No titles on these two pages...I thought it was pretty self-explanatory and I think I ran out of creative titles. lol

How do you like all the bling? Each one of those pieces were placed on separately. These are not ones you buy already in a strip and just lay down. No, no, no...What I did use though was a little plastic template from Bazzill Basics. Click on the highlight and you can get a better idea. This wasn't the one I purchased but you get the idea. They can be used for stitching or as a template for evenly spacing gems, brads, eyelets etc. Mine came as a pack of two and I opted for the basic shapes. The swirly that you see on the page, lines for square and round corners were on one plastic template...the other has zig zag, scalloped, wavy and a straight line. So pretty versatile. There's close-ups farther down.

Are you wondering about the shoes...yeah...I know a little different on a scrapbook page...I just thought it fit.

Are there any Cricut enthusiatics here? I'll share a couple little things I learned on making this page. This pertains to those with the Expression. See the circles that I've cut on the above photo and the mat is perfectly sized. First I used George Basics. I set my machine to centre point, placed the blade exactly in the centre and then decided how large I needed the inner circle to be. By the way I switched to cm/mm so I could be more accurate and get more sizes. Did you know you could do that? After the first circle was cut the machine goes make to centre point automatically and I was able to increase the size of my circle and then cut a second time.(Makes sure you know exactly how big the circles were, especially if you are using mm's as you will need those numbers to make the shadow). That gave me the flower circle and then I wanted to shadow it. I repeated the same process making the first cut for the inner circle smaller than the first cut for the flower circle and the second cut larger than the outer flower circle. Clear...give it a try and it will be. Also note you can only use the centre point feature if you are in "Landscape mode".

Okay that covers todays project.

Not much happening here. Hubby is away...concrete is being poured in the backyard for decking as we speak. Once everything is done I will do one post showing evrything from start to finish. That way those of you who aren't interested...no offense taken...lol don't have to endure picture update when what you really want to see is papercraft. I also know some of you like my sidetracks. I enjoy them too.

Have a good week-end. I might be back tomorrow with something.

Yvonne

Card Sketch #2, Winner from Sketch #1

Good Morning,

Well lots of things to talk about this morning.

First off...I only had one person upload their take on my January sketch. Congratulations to Marilyn! So MARILYN if you will send me an e-mail with your mailing address I have a little something I'll pop in the mail to you. Thanks for playing!

I decided to do another Sketch for February and hopefully we will have a few more participants. I will be including a small prize (some goodies from my stash)for one lucky winner. I will do a random draw from entrants. As before if you don't have a blog to link your creation to you can e-mail your card to me and I'll post it.

FEBRUARY SKETCH

My take on the sketch. Grey cardstock is from Stampin' Up. Lilac is Core-diantion embossed with Swiss dots and sanded. Stampin' Up's ticket corner punch for the corners with the vase. Striped pattern paper was from my scraps bin. Do you like the flower border? Funny...it looks so similiar to one of the cards I posted last week that had a fabric flower border. This is a new punch from EK Success that I got at CHA with one of my kits. It's so pretty. There are little holes in the centre of the flower but I covered those up with some bling. The words on the tab are a rub-on. I really am trying to use stuff I own. And I'm still playing with the flower soft. All the Flower Soft I've been using is the regular thickness not the ultrafine. The ultrafine was just showcased at CHA so it will take a little while for it to get to the stores.

Here's a little tutorial on how to make the flower stems. Start with about a 2" floral wire. Apply for glue to only one side. It will automatically run to the other side. This way you won't get too much and have it dripping everywhere.

Hold the flower stem over your container of flower soft and generously sprinkle flower soft over top. We were told at CHA not to roll it into the flower soft. By sprinkling it over top (like we do glitter) it will keep the stem having a softer look. Most flowers aren't solid with blooms but a little airy. When done just tap gently on the end of the stem to get rid of any extra that isn't attached to the glue.

Place in a piece of foam and let dry. Once dry you can shape it anyway you want.

Look forward to your take on this months Sketch!

Yvonne