Monday, September 22, 2014

Blueberry Patch

For many years now, my sister has generously provided us with lodging each time we travel across the country to visit with our extended families.  During our visit this August, we enjoyed freshly picked blueberries from her blueberry patch. She had such an abundant blueberry crop that she ended up selling some of them to people who were eager to pick their own. To thank her for her hospitality, I decided to surprise her and create a hand painted sign. Next year she can use it to replace the temporary signage that she used this year. It's been awhile since I painted anything like this, but it was great to pull out the paints and brushes and paint again. The sign turned out a bit rustic and each side is slightly different from the other,  but I don't think she'll mind. I shipped it off this morning and it should arrive at her home next week. I hope she will get a lot of use out of it.

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Circle Sketch

It's mid-September (already) and The Sketch File DT is still playing with the September "Just a Simple Circle"sketch that Kathy created for us. We hope you will be inspired and play along with us.

For my card, I kept the same layout and same orientation but created a stamped flower to represent the circle. I fussy cut around it and adhered it over layers of pink cardstock, separated by  a white ribbon. I dry embossed the pink layer on the right with a floral pattern. I also punched holes around the flower centerh and backed the flower with black cardstock so they would pop. To finish I added a white gel pen border on the left side of the card as well as the sentiment.

If you'd like to use the sketch to create a project, remember you can twist or turn it to change the orientation. We're looking forward to seeing what you create with this wonderful sketch. See you at The Sketch File!

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Braided Gold Ribbon Wreath

I created one last card for the GOLD challenge at Jingle Belles. This one has a braided GOLD wreath. I have included braiding steps below in case you are interested. It's a fun technique and rather addicting. 









I didn't cut the second end of my ribbon because I will probably make this ribbon wreath a little bigger. I just wanted to show the last step.

I've just found a youtube video that shares this technique. Check it out:
Ribbon Weaving

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Dangling Circle

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This week at The Sketch File, Kathy released a new sketch. Our DT hopes you'll use the sketch to put together a card, a scrapbook page or any project you can. I have to admit that when I saw the card that Kathy created based on the sketch, I couldn't resist trying a similar style card. Take a peek at Kathy's card and you'll see how she inspired my card. If you check out her personal blog (HERE), she describes how she made her card. I modified her idea and cut my circle completely out of the the card base and adhered a smaller circle inside the circle frame. I adhered a piece of embroidery thread between the two circles and attached it to the card base. To keep the thread in place I layered a second piece of cardstock over the thread and circle opening on the folded section of the card. 

Hope you are inspired and will post your creation with us!

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

September Sketch File

We've got our September sketch up at The Sketch File and we hope it will inspire you. It's "Just a Simple Circle" sketch and has endless possibilities. We hope you'll join us. It doesn't matter what you create with it. It could be a card, a scrapbook page...anything! We'd love to see it! Just hop on over to The Sketch File and link up your project. While you are there, take a look at the incredibly fabulous card created by Kathy. It's brilliant and so inspiring!

Kathy's sketch inspired me to create this music themed card. Recently I purchased some new dies and the violin/viola die was among the purchases. My son plays the viola, so, I created this card with his music in mind. I simply layered my die cut viola images onto a circle and framed it with another circle with a decorative edge. I adhered the circles to a green and white embossed background separated by washi tape.

Have fun with the new sketch! It will be up all month and you can create and link up as many projects as you'd like. See you at The Sketch File.

Monday, September 1, 2014

Going for the Gold

I'm back again with another card for the GOLD challenge at Jingle Belles. Thanks to Lisa Hausmann of Reckinghausen Musings who suggested this challenge. This time I am using the same ribbon that I used in one of my previous cards. I simply adhered gold ribbon (in the shape of a tree) to snowflake embossed cardstock, then added a gold outer border. I used a handwritten gold sentiment and attached it with two gold brads.

Thanks for the great challenge


More Gold!

This is yet another card created for the GOLD theme at Jingle BellesLisa Hausmann of Reckinghausen Musings is a special guest at Jingle Belles and has suggested GOLD as a theme. I created this card with three different gold products. First, I used some gold bling on a roll. It came in a single strand so I cut various lengths and adhered them in the shape of a tree. Then I wrapped a piece of white cardstock with gold embroidery thread, attached the tree and layered this onto green cardstock, then gold paper.  To finish I added a gold border around the outer edge of the card.

Gold Tree with Braditude


Jingle Belles has a special guest this week. It's Lisa Hausmann of Recklinghausen Musings and her challenge is fabulous! She's challenging us to use GOLD! Who doesn't have a stash of embellishments and products that are gold?  I found all kinds of lovely gold products hiding in my stash! For this card I started with gold brads and created a tree with them. My son recently mentioned that he hadn't seen me use any in my projects lately. So it was high time to use some of them!  After attaching the brads in a tree shape, I cut the tree from the green mat and wrapped gold trim around the tree. I adhered gold ribbon to the top and bottom of the card and then added a gold dotted border with a marker.