TIPS AND TECHNIQUES

Monday, October 19, 2015

Just an Update

So Hello!!!  I'm finally home from our summer home an it is all locked down for the winter.  :(  I am so going to miss the fabulous sunsets and the waves crashing on the lake lulling me to sleep.  You just cannot believe how relaxing it can be up there.  No real phones and cell phone reception is mediocre.  I do not have Internet up there so there is nothing to distract me and believe me I am easily distracted!  LOL  While I was up there this time I took a class at the Nature Center on making fall wreaths from stuff you find in the woods.  This wreath cost nearly nothing.  You can get a foam wreath form from the dollar store (mine was a 9").  Everything I used was free from the great outdoors!  I was so pleased with my finished wreath that I decided to share it with you.
Excuse the hook but it was the only thing I could find on the wall to hang it with so I removed all the jackets and hence the hooks..LOL  
Anyway it was so much fun and I met some really great ladies.  I was informed that during the winter months they all get together a couple of times making crafts from nature and they invited me back.  Unfortunately my cabin is not heated for those cold (no freezing) winter days so I will not be able to attend tho their winter wreath sounds gorgeous.  Maybe I can con my sister into letting me use her place for a weekend.  Hers has heat!!  lol
The only other fun things I did was attend a few fall fests and ran around to multiple farm markets picking up things I wanted to stock up on for the winter.   Ok Ok....I admit I did go to Oscars stamp store Once!  Yes only Once!!.  I picked up a few Tombow Markers that I didn't have and I copied Pats list of Tombow markers they use for coloring ALL their Northwoods Stamps.  She said these are the must have marker colors all the rest are just because you want it but you don't need it.  I will re-write the colors at a later date but for right now here is the list from  my phone.

So now if you don't own any Tombow you don't have to fret over which colors you should start out with!

Well now I can now try and get some other crafty stuff done around here for the up coming holidays.  

Later!!
HAPPY CARDING!!!

Sunday, October 4, 2015

One more Halloween

Oh my gosh!!!  Another Halloween???  Relax...this is the last one!  I'm getting a bit tired of Halloween cards too.  Although I think they are cute I get real antsy and want to move on to Christmas.  LOL
I decided to try a Grid card.  The Grid stamp is of course from Northwoods and so is the cube stamp with the Halloween images.

When I stamped the grid it was just black and white.  Boring...heeheehee so I added orange to all those white squares.  This card really only has 1 layer.  Green green from Recollections was used for the base.  Images were stamped in black and the only coloring I did was using Tombow markers on the stars and the purplish watercoloring behind the 5 images.  Some orange sequins added as my bling and I'm done!  Simple simple simple.  I bought a few of these cube stamps in different themes and can't wait to give those a try too.  Well until next time.....and who knows what I'll be sharing!


HAPPY CARDING!

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Envelope fold Christmas

A few posts ago I made a Birthday card using an Envelope fold that was new to me.  I mentioned that I would also do a Christmas card and here it is...


The paper I used was from a Stampin up Christmas pack.  I'll have to look it up.  I also made the flowers on the front with scraps of the Christmas paper and some cherry cobbler scraps.  The punch for the main pieces was a retired Stampin up flower punch that I do not know the name of but you could probably use the Pansy punch for similar effects.  The smaller flowers in the middle of large flowers was from a Martha Stewart 5 petal flower punch.  McGill pine was used for the leaves.  I then used a flourish swirl die for added dimension. I also misted all pieces with glitter mist just for a touch of sparkle.  I so love Sparkle! The inside sentiment is a Northwoods stamp.  If you sit down and make a few flowers these card go together really quickly and the fold is so easy.  See my previous post for instructions.
Hope you liked it.  I'm definitely going to make some more!
Til next time......

HAPPY CARDING!