Happy Birthday with a Rose

Do you ever make a project that has an aspect that you just love?

I've wanted to make nice 3D paper flower embellishements for a long time. As a kid I used to make beaded flowers - I guess I've always liked to craft flowers.

I like Prima's but they can get pricey and I end up not having the color I want for whatever I'm working on. So today I made this rose. Its my dear friend Eleanor's birthday this week and here is the card I made her. I'm not seeing her till tomorrow but I assume its "safe" to show here now.




















Here's a close up of the Rose - isn't it awesome ?- I know I'm so humble LOL. Wanna know how I made it?

I took a bunch of apple shaped punchies. I put them on a mouse pad and smooshed around with a big embossing tool (I used the Chatterbox Empressor from ages ago) till each apple was kinda cupped - I cut off the stems. Then I made a small circle and put glue dots on it and then I staggered the apples around the circle and kept adding new layers . The center is an inverted apple held on by more glue dots. I kept messing with the "petals" till I liked the shape.

Up to now - these were all white - then I had fun with my glimmer mist - I just kept spraying a bunch of different colors. After it dried - I took some chalk on a pom pom and added a bit of color to the spots that were still white.

The leaves were punched and I used tweezers to run them through the left over glimmer mist on my nonstick mat. Attached with...glue dots of course LOL

Inside is a treat! I think I'm gonna have to jazz up the inside before I see her tomorrow ! Hope you liked this - thanks for stopping by! Till next time!

Halloween Goodness

I made some cute paper backpacks for my DD to give to her friends for Halloween. I've seen these made on a couple of blogs but here is where I saw them first and is a great webstite for directions and inspiration in general!. http://inkingidaho.blogspot.com/2008/09/start-with-piece-of-cardstock-measuring.html. DD is 19 and typically has no desire/patience for Mom's paper projects - but this one sparked her interest when she saw one I'd made and I'm making 12 for her to give to her college friends...

P.S. If any of you blog readers can help this computer illiterate person - what do I need to do to get the link to inkingidaho to post as a link vs the url?

Ok back to the project - Here are a few of the backpacks made - aren't they cute?



Here is the back with the cute ribbon "backpack" handles!


I've never made stuff in bulk before and decided to make an assembly line - this is the only photo that came out clearly but I think you can see the process.


I used velco dots to close the flap and plan on putting mini candy bars inside the big pocket.

Hope you enjoyed these! Thanks for looking - and if you don't mind - drop a quick comment so I know if anyone's been here LOL cuz I don't know how else to know LOL!!

This has been a difficult post to make - lots of picture loading issues - but I'm so glad it worked - off to watch NCIS with my youngest - our fav show!!!

Andrea

Use it or lose it!!

Ok I've been a bad blogger!! A month since my last project posting...you know you've been away too long when you have trouble remembering your password. Well - here's to hoping I'm back sooner next time - I'll try!

Why this title? My Mom (may she rest in peace) used to say I deserved to use my "good" stuff for me - she also used to talk about "Use it or Lose" specifically in reference to aging and using one's brain to stay sharp. Sunday would have been her 80th birthday so she's been on my mind extra lately - but hey - you guys aren't here for this!! Except to say - my new approach is gonna be use that nice stuff for me - use it NOW!! Don't save it all for "best" - I'm refering to lots in my life but for the purposes of this blog - for my crafting stuff. I recently moved to a larger space and have my own SB room - and thus have access to stuff I've stashed for years - and guess what - lots of it isn't any good - a couple of ink pads had disintegrated - some rub-ons didn't work too well (but that could have been the brand) and the paper - well lets just say - I'm pickyer now LOL.

So here is (finally) a card I made for Halloween. I am sending it to my sister - but I think I'm safe to post it cuz I don't think she visits here (oops if I'm wrong).

Its a trifold Gate card that I saw at SCS and had to try.

Here is the card closed.

I used Martha Steward stamps I got on clearance at Michael's last year with versamark and SU! black embossing powder. From my stash - ribbon and rubons and the pumkins eyes are triangular bling!


When you open up the card it has several different panels to decorate. I'm going to sign my name and write a note to my sister on some orange cardstock and attach it to the open dotted patterned paper - also from my stash.

This one isn't the best photo but I wanted to show y'all the neat way the card opens.

Thanks for visiting (and letting me ramble LOL). Till next time. Andrea